Journey
by Camflip
Summary: The journey of a hero is never easy. A look at a journey that Kara is on. This is set during the first part of Season 1; includes OCs and some characters from the show. Admittedly, this is a bit darker take on Supergirl's story.
1. Prologue

******I updated this Prologue chapter. Some of the tenses were wrong and that bugged me.******

 **Author's Note: Hello, this is my first time ever publishing anything on the internet. Regardless, I am open to criticism and critiques.**

 **This is a story that has been bouncing around in my head since I first saw the pilot for this show. I am following the general timeline and setup that the show has established, but there will be my own characters, and characters from the show. I am planning on a story arc, with a resolution.**

 **The journey should be entertaining. Anyway, please enjoy!**

* * *

The acrid air filled the area of the launch platform; the last breaths of a dying world. On the horizon, molten lava shot skyward, sending huge tremors through the ground and causing large fissures to open up in the surface of the land. Entire cities were incinerated and destroyed in seconds. Millions were dying as the apocalypse spread across the entire planet. This world was ending.

A blinding light flashed as a large pod rocketed down the platform and then turned skyward into the dark, menacing sky. The figure of a man crouched down over another pod waiting on the launch platform. A young girl and a woman came scrambling up the steps to the platform to meet him. There was little time.

"Your pod's coordinates are interlocked with Kal-El's. You will follow him to Earth," the man said to the young girl, attempting to comfort her.

"I'm not afraid father," she said defiantly. She was trying to keep a strong front for her parents, but there was still fear showing through in her eyes. Her parents gave a knowing look to one another and the man moved back to the pod as the woman bent down to speak to the girl.

"The trip is long, but you'll sleep most of the way, and we'll be with you in your dreams. You'll journey to Earth to look after your baby cousin, Kal-El. Because of the Earth's yellow sun, you'll have great powers on this planet. You will do extraordinary things." They had both gone over this several times, but she wanted make sure her daughter had all the information available for the perilous journey. The woman knew she was sending her daughter across the galaxy to a foreign planet, and that her life would never be simple or normal. She took some solace in the fact that her daughter would survive the death of their world.

"I won't fail Kal-El, or you," the girl said. She was trying to convince her mother that she would do everything in her power to survive and look after her cousin.

The woman kissed her daughter on the forehead. "I love you Kara," she said. The upheaval in the ground shook the entire platform as the threatening explosions advanced closer. "You must go, now!" her mother says. The girl turned and took several steps towards the pod and stopped to look back at her mother. She could see the pain in her mother's eyes. The girl knew that she was never going to see her parents again. She pivoted and rushed back to her mother, and they embraced in a tight hug. The emotion bursting through in the tears starting to stream down their faces.

"Go!" her mother insists, pushing her towards the pod. Kara turned and leapt into the seat, and the pod began to activate. The protective shield of energy formed around the cockpit and the engine core began to power up. Kara looked through the shield at her parents, still standing on the platform watching their only daughter.

The pod lifted off the launch rail and stabilized a few feet off the ground. A pulse of energy sent it zooming down the platform and into the fire sky. Kara peered forward as the pod ascended straight up into the gloom and murkiness and began leaving the planet behind. As the pod cleared the outer atmosphere, the turbulence subsided and the darkness of space appeared before her. Sobs began to rack through Kara, as she cried uncontrollably. She would never see her home again, and though she tried her best not to show it in front of her parents, she was scared. She hoped that she could be brave enough to look after Kal-El and do the great things that her mother spoke of.

This would be a lonely journey that she was embarking on, looking after her infant cousin on an alien planet. She wasn't sure how she would accomplish any of this, but she would not give up. She also felt twinges of anger and frustration; nothing was ever going to be the same again. Why did she have to do this alone? Kara gathered herself, wiped the tears from her eyes and face, and monitored the pod's systems as it continued to speed up towards the cosmos. The immobilizer would soon put her into a deep sleep and she would wake when approaching Earth's atmosphere.

She couldn't see the massive and blinding explosion behind her pod as her planet disintegrated. An enormous shockwave ripped through space, closing in on her pod at the speed of light. The wave slammed into the back of the pod, hurling it off course. The impact was so intense, power in the cockpit of the pod went dark. Kara's vision began to blur, and slowly fade to black.


	2. Training Day

*****Edited*****

* * *

The rotor blades cut through the air, creating a constant, rhythmic drone of noise that blanketed the landscape. The blue and white Bell 412 helicopter was banking left and right through the rocky walls of the canyon as it screamed towards the objective. The badge emblem on either side of the aircraft read National City Police Department. The rocky, high-desert floor was flashing past the open rear cargo doors as the helicopter made its way in and out of the terrain.

"Three minutes, gentlemen!" a voice squawked over the aircraft intercom. The six men in the back of the aircraft shifted in their seats and began to double-check the gear on their bodies. They were members of the National City Police Department's Rapid Response Squad. An elite group of officers trained and equipped to handle situations that fall outside of the capabilities of regular patrol officers and detectives. They were asked to execute a variety of missions, including: hostage rescue, barricaded subject resolution, high-risk search warrant execution, domestic and international terrorism resolution, high risk arrests, and non-tactical technical rescues. They also were called when the chief didn't know who else to call. An emergency back-up that the police had when they were forced to dial 9-1-1, themselves.

Over the last twelve months, this workgroup had become more and more active. Politicians would argue that the crime rates were climbing across the country from a police slowdown, due to increased public scrutiny of high profile incidents. They claimed that the cops were less likely to engage or intervene in criminal activity for fear of being captured on the next controversial cell phone video or feeling like they have no support from the public, police managers, or politicians. However, officers working the street would tell you that it is not that simple. The past year has seen an increase in unsolved violent crimes, often perpetrated by a criminal element that had little fear or respect for law enforcement. Brazen crimes were committed in broad daylight and these acts were growing ever more violent. Gone were the days when it was a guarantee that criminals would flee from the police, many were standing their ground and fighting. This was creating a lot of work for this unit.

Adam Walker sat on the jump seat towards the center of the aircraft and looked around the interior of the aircraft. All of the men were sitting calmly and scanning the horizon out of either side of the helicopter, even as the aircraft banked wildly to the left and right. Although Adam was in his late twenties, the crows feet on either eye and the calluses on his hands suggested those had not been the easiest of years. He was of medium build and stood around six feet tall; his dull brown eyes had seen several years of service with the Rapid Response Squad. His brown hair was covered by a helmet, secured to his head by a chinstrap over a week's worth of stubble on his face. A light brown dog panted under the seat he was sitting in, the canine harness it was wearing had the name "Nico" stitched into it next to the handle.

"Ok gents, let's review today's mission," the voice of the team leader squelched over the aircraft intercom again. "Rappel insertion from either side of the aircraft to the rooftop, clear to the third floor of the structure and move to the southeast corner of the building, clear and secure that apartment unit. They are suspected of manufacturing homemade explosives, so watch for devices. I want a clean insertion and quick movement to the target unit in the structure. Any questions?" No one spoke up in the aircraft so he continued, "The order will be: Jennings, Martinez, Owens, Jackson, Walker with Nico, and myself. Switch to team radios now, we have two minutes until we hit the rope."

All team members gave a thumbs up to signify they understood and unplugged their headsets from the aircraft and plugged them into the radios they were wearing on their vests. Adam could hear Martinez and Owens start chatting about the football game the previous night.

"Walker, any crazy plans on this lovely Friday?" The man who sat across from Adam said. It was Mark Jennings, a senior member of the unit and a longtime mentor of Adam. They had known and worked with each other for several years, ever since Adam had made it onto the unit. Mark had groomed Adam from early on and this eventually led to the commander choosing Adam to be a canine handler on the unit. A select position within an already select group of officers.

"Nothing too crazy, just going out tonight", Adam replied while still scanning the horizon.

"You never go out. What do you mean, 'going out'?" Mark said with a puzzled look. He immediately cued into what Adam had tried to slip in there. "Like going out with someone?"

"Yes, like going out with someone," Adam said trying to be nonchalant about it.

"Holy shit, do you have a date?" Mark now grilled him. Adam just shook his head back and forth with a small grin on his lips. Mark always had to make a big deal out of everything.

"Yes. Asshole. I have a date. And yes, it's with a woman, before you make any smart-ass comments."

"Well, with you, I have to check, right?" Mark said, grinning through the beard on his face. He glanced out the side of the aircraft and his smiled faded, "Is this the first time since…?"

"Yeah," Adam replied quickly, not able to make eye contact with Mark.

"That's great, man," Mark said sincerely. Adam looked back at him, "It's been what? About eighteen months, right?"

"Seventeen months, eight days."

"It's time. It's time to start moving on. This will be good for you. She wanted you to move on, she never wanted for you to be alone for the rest your life," Mark said.

Cancer has been described as the emperor of all maladies. It can take its victims quickly and suddenly, with little warning, leaving loved ones in a state of shock trying to pick up the pieces of the void left behind. Contrarily, it can slowly and gradually steal the life from the casualties after a long, protracted war. Those that care for the afflicted must sit by and watch as their loved ones waste away to nothing; forced to use medicines that can make the everyday quality of life excruciating for everyone involved. It is a crushing weight to bear for the ones who surround the patient. Adam had been the witness of this fiendish disease slowly taking someone that he cared for very much.

Elizabeth Walker had been his wife for eight years before they were shuffled into a quiet doctor's office and given the devastating news. For eight months, Lizzy battled the abnormal growths in her body and Adam had been at her side as much as he could. Anytime not spent at work, Adam was with Lizzy. High school sweethearts, they were married shortly after they graduated and they both attended college together. Lizzy was with him through the milestones as Adam joined the force, attended the academy, and attended the selection course for the Rapid Response Unit. Late one night in the hospital, towards the end, Elizabeth had made Adam promise to keep living his life. To move on and find companionship with someone else. Lizzy was a realist and she knew that soon, Adam would be alone. She argued that Adam was too young to never have anyone else he loved in his life; to never be a father, and to never be intimate with another was not what she wanted for Adam.

Early on a Tuesday morning, Elizabeth lost the war raging in her body with Adam by her side. Adam was inconsolable, staying at the bedside for several hours, and in the hospital lobby for the next twenty hours. Teammates came to the hospital and finally convinced him to let them take him home. The guilt he felt leaving her at the hospital was almost too much. He took several weeks off from work to bury his soulmate and returned to the team quiet and broken. He did his job, though it was noted that he may need something more from the job. A distraction, a new focus, a new partner to keep him grounded. A couple months after her passing, the unit commander approached him about being a canine handler, to which he accepted. Nico and Adam were introduced and bonded quickly. Nico was a three year old, Belgian Malinois, with a dark muzzle and fawn coat and they had been working together over the past year.

Several weeks ago, sitting on the floor in his living room, in a completely dark house, Adam had been drowning in tequila. A storm raged outside and the rain struck, and ran down the windows. Tears streamed down Adam's face and Nico laid by his side, worried for his master. Sobbing and drunk, Adam reaffirmed to try and keep his promise to Lizzy. He was so lonely, and the guilt he felt from desiring companionship was overwhelming. He reminded himself that his dear Elizabeth had wanted him to move on. The current state that he was in, was the opposite of what she had wanted for him. And so he made a pledge to try, not to force it, but at least try.

"You know that's easier said than done, right?" Adam said while sighing. The helicopter climbed and cleared a large rock outcropping, then descended rapidly back into the valley.

"I know, I know. But this is an excellent first step forward," Mark said.

"I just don't want to go too fast."

"Easy tiger, let's worry about that if you don't freak her out on the first date," Mark said grinning. "How did you con this girl into going out with you, anyway? Were you walking Nico around parks and Yoga studios to meet girls?"

Adam smiled, "It's from one of those dating websites, matches people using magical math and profiles."

"That is how the kids are doing it these days," Mark said. "Where are you guys gonna go?"

"Lily's Restaurant. You know, the one downtown."

"Yeah, it's a nice place. Good choice," Mark said.

"One minute!" the team leader yelled and held up one finger. All the team members echoed the time and held up one finger to signify they had heard the time hack. Mark and Adam focused on the task at hand and double checked their gear. The helicopter broke out of the canyon and leveled off a hundred feet above the desert floor. The small outcropping of buildings on the ground ahead was surrounded by nothing but more desert sand and rocks.

"Hook up!" the team leader said over the radio and the operators grabbed their respective rappel lines and hooked into their harnesses. Adam pulled Nico out from under his seat, and Mark helped him hook the dog to the left side of his vest and harness. Nico would be strapped to Adam on the way down. The helicopter banked slightly to the left and made its final lineup with the target building. "Skids!" the team leader commanded over the radio and the operators stepped out onto the left and right skids of the helicopter. The whine of the helicopter's turbine engines changed as the pilot lowered collective, pitched the nose of the aircraft up, and began to slow. Adam held the rappel rope with both hands while standing on the skid on the right side of the helicopter. He glanced to his left side to check on Nico hanging there. He was doing fine.

The helicopter continued to slow and then made an aggressive flare to bleed off speed. "Go! Go! Go!" came the command over the radio and simultaneously all six operators stepped off the skids and fell away from the helicopter. Adam could see the rooftop rushing up towards him and swung his brake hand towards his back to slow the descent. His boots impacted the rooftop, and his knees buckled to absorb the shock. Everyone immediately unhooked their carabiners and grabbed for their rifles, which had been strapped to their bodies. Adam grabbed Nico's harness and unclipped him from his vest and lowered him in front of him. The ropes fell to the ground and the helicopter banked sharply forward and began climbing away from the building. The team moved to the door on the rooftop and lined up. Martinez grabbed for the knob and opened the door, and the team filed into the building. Moving down a stairway, they bypassed the fourth floor, and continued to the third floor. The team made their way onto that floor and moved to the unit on the southeast side of the building. They paused again at the doorway of the unit and Owens moved up with a ram, swinging deftly, and smashing the door open with one hit. Martinez dropped a flash bang through the door, and it exploded in noise, light, and smoke. The team immediately filed into the living room of the unit screaming, "Police! Police! Get down!" Two men jumped up off the couches with handguns and the first three team members fired a volley of shots, downing all the opponents. Another man ran out into the living room from one of the bedrooms. "Fuck you cops! Go to hell!" he yelled while waving his arms wildly. There were no weapons in his hands. Adam bent down and unclipped the leash from Nico's harness and whispered something into his ear. Nico immediately leapt forward and crashed into the man, knocking him to the ground. His powerful jaws clamped onto the man's left tricep and he began dragging him backwards towards the team. The man squealed and thrashed in pain. The team continued forward, clearing the apartment and Adam moved up to Nico and grabbed the man's other arm and flipped him over onto his stomach. He gave Nico the command to release, which he obeyed and Adam grabbed the left arm of the man and brought both behind his back. He put both wrists of the man into a set of flex-cuffs and tightened the plastic. He could hear shots ringing out in the other rooms of the unit. After a few moments, he could hear team members calling out from different rooms, "Clear!"

The team leader walked back into the living room from one of the bedrooms, he could see that the two men who had been shot were secured with flex-cuffs and that Adam was standing by the man who was still alive, and also secured. He reached down to the transmit button for his radio and said, "All clear, all clear. T O C, this is Alpha, do you copy all clear?"

A voice squelched over the radio, "T O C copies, you are all clear. End scenario, end scenario."

This mission was training, and these buildings were a training site. When this unit wasn't on missions, it was constantly training. The 'dead' men on the ground came back to life and Adam grabbed a pair of shears off of his vest and snipped the flex cuffs off of the man he was standing over. Only paint rounds had been fired, no actual bullets, and the man that Nico had bitten was wearing a large protective 'bite suit'. This training exercise was over. They would go back to the compound and debrief the exercise.

The men started filing out of the unit and walking to the ground floor of the building. Owens and Martinez went back up to the roof to collect up the rappel ropes that had been dropped from the helicopter during the insertion. Adam and Mark walked out of the building into the afternoon warmth, Nico at Adam's side.

"LZ will be the large parking lot to the north, gather up there," the team leader said over the radio. "Air, we'll be ready in five."

"So, you're not going to get all heavy with this girl tonight, right? Talking about death and despair and drinking," Mark said to Adam as they were walking towards the parking lot.

"No, no. It'll be cheery, upbeat conversation. No talk of dead wives, or anything like that." Adam said with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice.

"And I, by no means, am an expert. But I wouldn't recommend wearing that," Mark said pointing to the titanium ring on Adam's left ring finger. "Might cause some drama right up front."

"I know, it's coming off for this evening. I don't need this girl knowing that I am a complete hot mess on the first date."

"Hot-mess-express. You're all over it." They both grinned at the fact they were talking like teenage girls.

The team members had gathered at the parking lot and were waiting for the aircraft pickup. The Bell 412 helicopter came in from the west and began descending towards them. It slowed to a hover and gently set down on the pavement. The team members and the men who played the role of aggressors during the exercise all walked towards the side of the helicopter, ducking instinctively when they walked under the spinning rotor blades. All the men climbed into their seats and fastened their belts. Adam lifted Nico into the rear cabin and then climbed himself into a jump seat. Nico intuitively crawled under his chair and laid down. The whine from the engines increased and the cracks from the rotor blades grabbing more air intensified as the helicopter became light on its skids. The chopper lifted into the air and nosed forward, gaining momentum. The men began chatting about different things, and Adam reached down and scratched Nico's head as they flew back towards the PD's headquarters.


	3. Blind Date

*****Edited*****

* * *

The blue neon lights of Lily's Restaurant reflected on the sidewalk, as people milled about at the front door. A black Uber vehicle rolled up to the curb and a woman got out of the back seat and waved to the driver. She glanced into the restaurant and bar area and sighed.

 _Here goes nothing_ , she thought to herself. Kara Danvers reached up and pushed her glasses closer to her face and readjusted the white coat that hung on her shoulders. She would've been lying if she told anyone that she wasn't having second thoughts about this blind date. _This is normal. This is what normal people do_ , she reaffirmed to herself. Even with the powers that she possessed, she couldn't be sure that this was a good thing to do. However, years ago she made a pledge to be as normal as she could, and this was apart of that journey. Yet, as hard as she tried to conceal it, Kara was anything by normal.

Her dirty blonde hair bounced off her shoulders as she walked up the steps and into the restaurant. The hostess greeted her and Kara told her that she was meeting someone. She gave the hostess the name and smiled. "Right this way," the young hostess said while leading the way into the dining room. They weaved their way through the dimly lit room and Kara was scanning the tables, wondering where the hostess was going to stop. They stopped at a table in the middle of the dining room. A man was seated at the table and immediately stood up. "Here you go, ma'am. You two enjoy your dinner," The hostess gestured to the table and then walked away.

"Hi," Kara blurted out.

"Hi," the man returned quickly. "I'm Adam Walker, it's nice to meet you," he said while extending his right hand.

"Kara Danvers. It's nice to meet you, too," she said, shaking his hand firmly.

"Please, please, sit down," Adam gestured to a chair and scurried around the table to pull it out for her.

"Yes, thank you," Kara said while sitting down and scooting in closer to the table with Adam's assistance. Adam moved back to his chair and sat down. She tried her best not to be obvious about looking him over. _He's handsome_ , she thought. "I hope you haven't been waiting too long," she said.

"No, no. Only a few minutes. Besides, traffic is a bear around this time," he said. She could tell that he was nervous, the same as her. That's good, right? Hopefully, it means that he doesn't do this all the time. "Have you ever eaten here before?" he asked as he handed her a menu.

"No, but I've heard good things about it from some people I work with," she said.

A waiter approached the table and interrupts, "Evening, folks. Can I get any drinks started for you two?"

Kara scanned the drink menu for a moment, "I'll have a Martini, please."

"Very good, and you, sir?" the waiter said, turning to Adam.

"Diet Coke, thanks," Adam said.

"Right away. I'll be back with those drinks in a moment," the waiter said and then scampered off through the dining room. They sat silently for a few minutes.

Kara let out a sigh as she scanned the eńtres, she glanced up and saw Adam looking at her. "Are you nervous?" he asked.

 _Oh, thank goodness. He broke the ice_ , she thought. "I am, are you?" she replied, leaning into the table.

"I would be lying if I told you I wasn't nervous," Adam said with a small smile. "Besides, I'm sure it was fairly obvious in the first ninety seconds that I wasn't overly skilled at this dating thing."

Kara smiled back, "I promised my sister that I would try and date more, so I'm sure you have better skills than me."

"I made the same promise to somebody," Adam said. They smiled at one another. The waiter returned to the table with the drinks and placed them on the table.

"I'll give you a couple of minutes with the menu," the waiter said and then walked off.

Adam waited a moment, took a sip from his soda, and then asked, "What do you do, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Excuse me?" Kara said, confused.

"You said some people you worked with mentioned good things about this restaurant?"

"Ah yes, of course. I work at CatCo Worldwide Media as an executive assistant," she said. _As far as dates go, this isn't going horribly_ , she thought to herself. She was waiting for the other shoe to drop, though. Either he or she was going to say or do something that would ruin the evening, Kara just knew it. _Come on, Kara. Don't be an alien right now_. "How about you? What do you do? Your profile said that you work for the city."

"Yeah, yeah… I work for the Public Health Department… downtown," Adam said, glancing away. He took another sip from his soda. Kara could tell that there was something off in that answer. She tilted her head to the side, looking at him. "I do code compliance…" Adam continued, trying to convince her.

"Sounds interesting," Kara replies.

"It has its moments," Adam said hiding behind his glass. "So, where are you from originally?" putting the focus back onto Kara.

"Like… where was I b-born…?" Kara stuttered. "Um, uh… north…" Now it was her turn to lie. Adam looked at her, knowingly. _So, we both have things we don't really want to talk about, yet_ , Kara thought.

A chirping sound came from Adam's jacket pocket, and he reached down on the outside of his jacket, to confirm it was his phone that was buzzing. Kara instinctively squinted her eyes, and the fabric of his jacket became translucent. She could see the phone in his jacket pocket ringing. Adam pulled the phone out of his pocket and glanced at it. "Sorry," he said. She knew she shouldn't use that particular ability on people, but when she was nervous she reverts back to what she knows; what makes her comfortable. She blurred her vision and translucence began to fade, but not before she saw his right hip. _What is that?_

Gun. _Why does he have a gun on his hip!?_

Her shoulders and fists clenched, as she became very alert. The phone was still in Adam's hand as he looked at the screen. She could tell that he was debating with himself whether or not to answer it.

He looked up at her, and could see the startled look on her face. "I'm so sorry, I-I need to take this… please excuse me for a minute." Adam slid out of his chair and walked back to the back of the bar area. Kara watched him as he walked away, again scanning him with her vision. She could see his wallet in his back pocket, with the outline of a large, flat badge inside of it.

Cop. He was a police officer.

 _Phew_ , she thought. But, oh my, this could be quite complicated. How could she possibly date a cop? They are naturally inquisitive and suspicious; they have to be. It is a survival mechanism. _Public Health Department, that's funny_. Kara could see the irony in Adam's lie about his occupation. _Ok, ok… we both have secrets. Everyone has secrets. But this… this would never work_ , she thought. She glanced back over at Adam across the building as he answered the phone. The ambient noise surrounding her faded away, as her hearing focused in on him across the restaurant in the bar area.

"Walker," he said, answering the phone.

"We have detonation of an explosive device on an airliner that just took off from National City International. We need you to respond immediately," the voice on the other end of the line said. "The team will pick you up enroute."

"Is the aircraft still flying?" Adam asked.

"Yes, it's circling the city with some systems damage. The pilots are working with ATC to see if they can get back to the airport. They are thinking that they'll have to ditch."

"Ok, I'll be on my way, shortly. We'll need the air unit to respond, as well as…"

Kara noticed the TV that was hanging in the bar, just above where Adam was standing, talking on the phone. The reporter was announcing breaking news about trouble on a flight that was bound for Geneva.

 _Geneva._

Fear gripped Kara as she stood and grabbed her hand bag. She turned and moved quickly for the exit.

* * *

Adam hung up his cell phone and turned and started walking back to the table. _Very first date, and I've got to bail, how freaking fitting is that?_ he thought. This job could be rugged sometimes. How was he going to explain this to her? No matter what public health emergency he could come up with, nothing was going salvage the date. _Too bad_ , he thought. She seemed like a nice girl. He looked up at the table.

Gone. Kara was gone. He glanced around the restaurant, but noticed her hand bag was gone, as well. _Ok... I guess the date was going far worse than I had realized._ Damn, he didn't think that the start was that bad. Mark would never let him hear the end of this one. He pulled some money out of his jacket pocket and set it on the table to pay for the drinks.

He moved swiftly for the front door and jogged down the steps to the street. Sirens wailed on the emergency vehicles as they sped past the restaurant. He started jogging down to the corner and glanced down an alley. A woman in a white jacket was running away down the alley. She flashed out of view as he continued moving for the corner. He felt his jacket buzz and pulled his phone out.

 _PILOTS PLAN TO DITCH INTO THE BAY. PREPARE FOR WATER RESCUE OPS_ , the text read.

An unmarked Sprinter van pulled up to the corner and stopped, and without slowing, Adam jumped into the back of it. "Sorry to ruin your date," Mark greeted him.

"Should I be surprised?" Adam said, stripping his jacket off and grabbing a water ops bag that Mark handed him. He quickly changed into a wetsuit and harness. The van careened through the streets, lights and siren blaring.

"Roger, have Falcon land on the eastside of the bridge and we'll forty-five there," Mark said into the radio. The van reached the bridge in less than two minutes. Uniformed officers had cleared vehicles out of an area so the helicopter would have room to set down. Adam and several team members jumped out and looked up. The helicopter was circling in an orbit, and lined up for an approach to land on the bridge. The helicopter slowed, stabilized, and set down in the center of the road. The men ran towards the side door of the aircraft, which was slid open by the crew chief. They all leapt into the back and the crew chief slid the door shut.

The helicopter lurched back into the night sky. "Holy shit, look!" Mark said pointing out the front of the helo. The stricken airliner was screaming towards one of the suspension towers of the bridge. Flames and smoke poured from both wings of the large airplane. The nose was falling, pointing precariously towards the water. Not a single person on that aircraft would survive if it impacted the water like that.

"This is gonna be bad… really bad," Adam said, watching the horror unfold before him. As quickly as it was falling out of the sky, the nose and wings began to level out. _Were the pilots regaining control of it_? "I think they're getting control back!" Adam exclaimed. The plane was still on a collision course with the large bridge that stretched across the bay.

"I don't think they're gonna clear it!" the helicopter pilot said. The plane began to slow and bank sharply to the right. The plane continued banking until its wings were completely vertical. _How is the plane still flying? It's moving so slow?!_ , Adam thought. The right wing impacted the guardrail and scraped across the bridge, sending a shower of sparks everywhere, and flinging several vehicles out of the way as it went. As soon as the body of the aircraft cleared the bridge, the wings quickly leveled out and its speed decreased even more. It was almost floating there. The plane then skidded onto the surface of the water, sending a wall of water flying.

"It's down, I repeat, the aircraft is in the water! Go, go, go!" Mark transmitted into the radio. The helicopter nosed forward sharply to accelerate towards the downed aircraft. The crew chief activated the large searchlight that is bolted to the belly of the helicopter and began sweeping the light back and forth on the wreckage. "I'll be damned. It stayed intact. How the hell is that possible?" Mark said to Adam, as they both peered out the windows to scan the crash.

"On the wing! On the right wing!" the pilot exclaimed. The crew chief quickly slewed the searchlight over. A woman was climbing up the leading edge of the slat, and crawled onto the top of the wing. She stood upright and looked around.

"Survivors in the water! Survivors in the water!" the crew chief shouted. "Rescuers, stand-by!" The crew chief slid the door of the helicopter open, as the pilot slowed to a hover and then lowered towards the water. Adam and Mark swung their feet out onto the skids of the aircraft.

"You think she was thrown during the crash?" Mark said, as they prepared to jump into the water.

"I don't see any openings in the fuselage! Where did she come from?" Adam replied. "Either way, she's damn lucky to be standing up."

"Go, go, go!" the crew chief slapped both Mark and Adam on the shoulders. Simultaneously, they thrust their hips away from the helicopter and crossed their arms across their chest as they fell towards the black water. Both men splashed into the water and disappeared beneath the surface. They quickly resurfaced and signaled a 'thumbs up' to the crew chief. The crew chief acknowledged and both Mark and Adam began swimming hard for the downed plane. The helicopter nosed forward and began an orbit around the crash scene. The soaking wet woman was still standing the wing and she looked towards the windows of the plane. Adam swam hard, and he could see the back of the woman clearly now.

"Ma'am, don't move! We'll get you out of there!" he shouted to her, out of breath. As Adam was about to reach the back of the wing, the woman leapt into the sky and rocketed away into the night across the bay.

Flying. The woman flew away.

"Did you see that!?" Adam screamed.

"Where did she go!?" Mark had stopped swimming and was treading water. He had put his head down for a moment, and when he had looked back up, the woman was gone.

"She flew away!" Adam exclaimed.

"What the hell do you mean, she flew away?" Mark reached the back of the wing with Adam.

"I mean, she lept off the fucking wing and flew away… like a damn missile." Adam said, pointing to the night sky where the woman had disappeared to. Both men crawled up the back of the wing and stood up.

"What the hell is going on?" Mark said. The people inside of the plane began pounding on the windows.

"I don't know… I don't know…" Adam stammered.

Mark looked over to the emergency exit doors, which were still shut. "Well, what I know is that we still have a plane full of people bobbing in the bay. Let's focus on that, for now," Mark said. He turned and grabbed the waterproof radio on his harness, "Command, we have a plane full of people, we are going to need some boats to get them out of here."

"Roger, several patrol boats are about a minute out. Recommend you stage the survivors on the wing," the voice squawked back through the radio.

"Copy," he replied. "Well, let's get these doors open, and start getting people out." Adam was still staring off in the direction the woman had disappeared in. "Hey, you hear me?"

"Yeah… yeah. Sounds good, let's get these doors open," Adam said as he brought his attention back to the plane.

* * *

The silver tahoe pulled into the driveway of a house. The lights on either side of the garage and the entry-way were on. Adam Walker slid out of the driver's seat and opened the tailgate of the SUV. He pulled a bag of wet water rescue gear out of the back and shut the back door. The car alarm activated with a chirp, and he walked up to the front door. His hair had dried funny from his time swimming in the bay, and the date clothes he wore were no longer crisp, hanging rumpled and disheveled off his frame. The key slid into the lock and opened the door and he stepped inside to the darkened house. He set the bag down next to the front door and walked towards his office just off the main entryway. He opened the door and turned on the light. Nico was in his kennel and Adam could hear his tail wagging and hitting the inside walls of the crate. He opened the door, "Come on, let's go… outside," Adam said. Nico rushed out of the crate and licked Adam's hand as they walked to the back door. Adam opened it and Nico trotted out into the dark backyard, eager to reclaim some of the shrubs as his own. Adam followed him into the backyard, walking out from under the porch and into the middle of the lawn. He stared up into the night sky.

 _What am I looking for_? he thought to himself. He couldn't shake the image in his mind of the woman flying away from the downed aircraft. What Adam did know, was that things were going to be different in National City after this night. How could things not change?

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **So, that's the first batch that I've put together. Critiques always welcome.**


	4. The Warehouse

*****Edited*****

 **A/N: Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter written and out. Writing from Kara's perspective proved to be more difficult than I had anticipated for me. Alas, here it is, and it is a fairly good sized chapter. If you look at the previous chapters, Adam and RRS have an establishing chapter, along with 'the date' chapter. You could consider this Kara's establishing chapter, and she is clearly the main protagonist to this story, so there will be plenty more to follow. Also, when I started this story and picked a name for my OC (Adam), the show hadn't introduced Cat Grant's son, Adam Foster (I think that is his name). Obviously, the Adam Walker in this story doesn't have anything to do with the Adam character from the show. I guess it was a good first name that I picked, since the show ended up using the same name for one of it's peripheral characters.**

 **I hope you all are doing well, please enjoy!**

* * *

Kara Zor-El hung in the complete silence, the cold and thin air of the stratosphere floated in her hair. Motionless, with one of her knees slightly bent, she stood suspended in the sky. The red fabric that was fastened to her shoulders flowed down around her body, almost wrapping around her like a blanket. The large symbol of the house of El emblazoned across her chest. Up this high above the earth, she could be completely alone with her thoughts, her burdens. She could see most of the western United States from this height above the Earth.

She had made the choice to reveal herself to the world, to her city, weeks ago. To start down the hero's journey that her birth parents believed she was destined for. She was still figuring out what her role was going to be in this era, whether people would accept her. She had all these powers that humans could only dream of, amazing abilities. Her body absorbed the energy from the yellow sun and it seemed that every day she could fly higher and faster than before, lift more weight on her back, fire hotter and more intense energy from her azure eyes. But she was still new to this, still unsure of herself; she had hidden these abilities for so many years. Her boss, media mogul Cat Grant, had given her the name that ended up sticking. Supergirl. Kara hadn't been thrilled with the title, but it really wasn't up to her. From the second it hit social media, it caught on like wildfire. It's like nicknames, you usually aren't the one who picks your own nickname, it's those that are around you. And there is usually very little you can do to change the name once it has been anointed by the group. She wasn't surprised, given what Metropolis had named her cousin. His shadow was hard to escape, and she found herself being constantly compared to him. She hoped she could measure up, but she wanted to be her own person. Her own hero. Was she strong enough to do this? She was still unsure. But she was compelled to do this, to live for a higher purpose and use her abilities to help people that she has never met before.

As she developed her identity as Supergirl, she kept her real identity a secret. Mostly to protect those that were closest to her. Those wishing to cause her harm, could achieve that by attacking those that she cared for, either directly or indirectly. She knew that if everyone knew her real identity, it put those around her in danger, for no other reason than being associated with her. When her pod had burned through the atmosphere and slammed into earth, she had emerged ready to continue with her given mission of looking after her baby cousin. But, the explosion from her dying home world had flung her pod into an area of Space that the Kryptonians had called the Phantom Zone. Through an aberration of physics, time does not pass in this expanse of the universe. When Kara had landed, years had passed; her cousin had grown into a man, without her help or shepherding. Kal-El, or Clark Kent, as he was known on Earth, had been the one to help her. He took her to a family, whom he trusted, the Danvers. The Danvers adopted Kara as one of their own and gave her their surname. She no longer had a mission, no longer had a commission to distract her from the pain of the total annihilation of her homeworld. Though the destruction of Krypton had been decades ago, she awoke as if not a minute had passed. The pain of losing her homeworld was still fresh. On top of that, she was feeling sensations that she had never felt before on Earth from the activation of her cells in proximity to a yellow star; strength and abilities that she had no experience with. It was scary for someone that young to face. However, she quickly had a constant force to help her after arriving with the Danvers, and that was her new older sister, Alexandra. Alex took Kara under her wing, and the two grew practically inseparable. Alex and Kara loved each other, and Alex became very protective of Kara. She felt it was her job to look after her younger sister; her younger sister who had lost her real family and whole planet.

As Kara grew up, the Danvers all agreed that she should keep who she really was a secret. On this planet, she was Kara Danvers who lived in National City and worked at Catco Worldwide Media as an executive assistant. Not a refugee Kryptonian who had abilities beyond anyone's imagination and no longer had a home world. For more than decade, she had perfected her charade. However, all that changed when she was faced with losing Alex. She wasn't sure what to do after she had saved the plane that night, weeks ago. Alex had been on the plane traveling to Geneva for work. There was no way she could have let her die, she loved her sister too much and she had lost so much already prior to arriving on this planet. Alex had been so upset, Kara had exposed herself to the world for her. Regardless, it felt good. It felt good to help people, to do good. To be more than an executive assistant, hiding who she really was.. She didn't tell her sister, but when she was standing on the wing of the downed airliner, she felt like she was living up to her birth parents' expectations more than ever before. Despite Alex's stern warnings, she had pushed forward, trying to achieve the great things that she was destined for. She developed a hero's persona, while keeping her real identity a secret.

When she had her first misstep involving an oil tanker in the harbor, Kara had watched as the city that she watched over turn on her in an instant. She had applied a little too much force to the front of the ship while trying to move it away from a fire, and the hull had breached, causing torrents of oil to spill into the bay. The backlash had been swift in the media, with some people calling for her arrest and others for her banishment. It was her first real taste of the xenophobia that many people are quick to jump to when faced with somebody different. There were people who didn't trust her because she was from another world; she was an alien. There were others who saw her as a threat because of the powers she possessed. She wished that she could somehow prove to all those people that Earth was her home now. She would do her best to serve and protect the planet from-

"Kara…" A voice transmitted from the earpiece hidden behind her golden hair.

Kara was shook from her thoughts, "Yes- Yes, I'm here."

"The police are getting ready to raid a warehouse at Connelly and Knox Avenue on the east side. A drug cartel is holding people for ransom. Could get ugly," the voice said.

"Ok, I'll head that way and check it out." She said as she squinted her eyes and could see the area of the city that she needed to head towards, even from miles above the Earth. People were in need of her help, and she became very focused when her self-appointed duty called. Kara clinched her fists and shoulders as the energy surged in her body and released as she bolted forward through the the night sky. She accelerated rapidly as she powered towards the sound barrier, a vapor cone forming around her waist as she transitioned above the speed of sound. She pointed herself towards the lower part of California and headed back to National City.

* * *

The commercial district had long since closed for the day, shipping containers and delivery trucks all stacked in a row. In a far corner of the district, an abandoned paper factory sat behind a chainlink fence with a single sodium lamp suspended from a pole. The light illuminated an old metal door leading into the factory. Years ago, during the recession, the facility had closed and been abandoned. A man stood just outside of the sphere of light cast by the lamp and smoked a cigarette, the glow from the long drag he took, glowed around his lips. He shifted his shoulders and adjusted a strap that ran down to an assault rifle hanging low off his right hip. He stood vigil for a sinister purpose.

Drug cartels had diversified in the last decade, moving away from solely smuggling drugs into the United States. Human trafficking has become a huge revenue source for these criminal organizations to profit from. It is a ruthless and abhorrent business run by 'coyotes', or the cartel members that specialize in human smuggling. These coyotes no longer acknowledge the people they are responsible for illicitly moving into the country, as even human beings. To them, the people are nothing but product; product that needs to be moved from one location to another in order to generate revenue. Many times, there is a price agreed upon before the journey starts, and typically involves money up front and more to be paid upon delivery. These criminals have little tolerance of delays or impedances. If while moving through the southwest desert of the United States, an older, sick, or younger member of the smuggled group is too slow and lags behind, they are promptly left behind. Lost and alone in an inhospitable desert, with little to no supplies, those that are left often die a terrible and agonizing death from the elements. The coyotes have no remorse or apprehension about leaving someone behind, and guaranteeing their demise. However, it doesn't stop there. Once the coyotes have moved the load to a metropolitan area, they are typically kept in a 'drop house', where they await movement to the rest of the country. The coyotes quickly figured out that they can refuse to release these people, until further payment is made to them, well above what was previously agreed upon before the journey, from their families already living in the states. It boils down to a classic kidnap and ransom scenario.

The cruel twist to the coyotes scheme is that the people being held ransom are in the country illegally. There are huge levels of distrust between the immigrant populations across the country and the authorities from years of abuse and vilification in politics and the media. Victim's families rarely report the ransoms to the local authorities for fear of deportation or legal retribution. This allows the cartels to run their ransom plans unchallenged; they have little fear of the police intervening. The coyotes will force their victims to call their families and demand more money for their release, often while beating or sexually assaulting them during the calls. If the family paid, they were sometimes released, but with horrendous threats of retaliation if they spoke to anyone about their ordeal. If they refused or were unable to pay, the loved one is never heard from again. On the rare occasions that the police are notified and attempt a rescue, the coyotes have a reaction plan in place. They will kill every one of their victims in the drop house in a truly barbaric fashion and flee. Dead people can't be witnesses.

The cartel guard continued puffing his cigarette, watching over the front of the property and the quiet street that was on the other side of the chain link fence. Inside the dank building, five people were chained to the wall. Two men and three women. The chains ran from the ceiling and clasped to their wrists, rubbing bloody abrasions into their skin. All had been stripped to their undergarments and they shivered from the cold, damp air. The man on the far end was unconscious and hung by his arms in the air, having sustained a severe beating during the last ransom call. One of the women hung her head in despair, she had been in this nightmare for several days. The coyotes had forced her to make several phone calls to her father and sister, who were living on the east coast, demanding and begging for money to gain her release. Her beatings had been brutal and vicious. The men had assaulted her in the most egregious and intimate manner during one of the phone calls, and she wished so badly that her father had been spared from listening to that. Her name was Christina, and she was in hell. After listening to his daughter be violated by the animals holding her, the father knew that there was no way he could get enough money to buy her freedom, and that she was doomed. He resorted to the only other thing he could think of doing, even with the risk involved. He contacted the National City Police and described what had happened over the last several days. An entire unit of detectives had been tasked with working the case and they wasted little time. The brazen kidnappers hadn't even encrypted or blocked their cell phone calls to the father; they were that confident in the terror they instilled. Within hours, the police had tracked the signal of the phone to the abandoned warehouse.

A small office across the floor from where the victims were hanging had a small TV mounted to the wall, the images of a soccer game flashed on the screen. Three men sat in the office drinking beer and eating food while chatting aimlessly. An assortment of weapons lay around the office. One of the men, the most senior of them, barked at one of the younger men in spanish. The young man stood from his chair and walked to the door of the office to check on their captives. None of the coyotes heard the footsteps of the men moving outside of the building down the wall towards the entrance.

Adam moved silently in the darkness down the long wall of the warehouse towards the entrance, walking in a heel to toe manner. The green hue from the night vision goggles mounted to his helmet glowed around his eyes. Nico walked off of Adam's left side, remaining completely mute. As far as the dog was concerned, he was hunting with his pack. Doing what predators do. Adam was the fourth man back in the row of operators moving along the building to their entry point, their rifles with long suppressors hanging on the barrels shouldered at the ready. Mark was leading the train of men and stopped several feet short of the corner of the building. All the men cautiously took a knee and watched as Mark stepped gingerly forward to peer around the corner. Adam could see the infrared laser on Mark's rifle illuminate as he spotted the sentry guarding the door smoking a cigarette. The coyote's back was to the team and the laser on the middle of his back could only been seen through night vision equipment; the sentry had no idea that Mark was there. Mark signaled with his left hand, and the second man moved up and gently lowered his rifle so he wouldn't make noise, letting it hang from his vest. He unsheathed a taser from the front of his vest and glanced back at the third man, who nodded. Things would move very quickly when these men made their move.

A pop sounded from the taser and the barbs flew forward in an instant and impacted the back of the sentry, imbedding in his skin. His whole body tensed and contracted as he released a muffled groan and fell forward to the ground. The team immediately stepped forward and rounded the corner. Mark moved to the metal entry door and the third man in the stack unclipped a football shaped explosive charge covered in black duct tape from his vest and began to affix it to the center of the metal door. Adam held up at the corner and watched as two other team members moved up to the man on ground, incapacitated by electricity, and grabbed him by his legs. They drug him backwards to the corner of the building as the taser completed it's cycle. The coyote was still dazed as an operator wrapped plastic flex cuffs around his wrists and ankles, he quickly applied duct tape around his mouth to prevent any yelling or warning from the man. Mark and the other operator, who was carrying a small detonator in his hand, moved back to the corner of the building and lined back up.

"Oye, lo qué está pasando?" a voice called from inside of the warehouse. "Daniel?"

The operator clicked the plunger on the initiator and a flash and pop from the shock tube preceded a deafening explosion at the front door. The men all lurched forward around the corner towards the entry door. The blast had completely collapsed the door and pushed it several feet inside of the building. The team filed in through the opening and moved rapidly into the warehouse floor. Adam was in the middle of team, Nico following dutifully on his left side. Three men came bursting out of an office on the far side of the dark floor and two of them immediately began firing their rifles blindly into the darkness. The senior coyote ran to the right and disappeared out of view into a row of large, cylindrical tanks. Adam watched through his night vision goggles as the lead operators trained the infrared lasers from their rifles onto the chests of the men firing. While still moving, the operators each fired a volley of shots from their rifles. He could hear the bullets slamming into the gunmen and they both slumped to the ground, dead before their bodies came to rest on the floor. Mark whispered into the team radio, "Lead two, push forward and clear the office. Walker on me to push towards the runner." Adam moved over to Mark's side as they moved to the right towards the tanks lined in a long row down the length of the warehouse. He glanced back over to the other side of the office and saw a wall with several people hanging by their arms from chains, the two teammates were closing in on them.

 _The victims_ , he thought. Mark moved over to one side of the tanks and Adam stayed on the far end. Adam looked over and Mark gestured to start moving forward. What little ambient light was coming from the office rapidly dissipated to almost complete darkness. Adam saw through the darkness in the warehouse, and looked at the rows of tanks through the green hue of his goggles. Nico stepped along with Adam in the blackness, his nose taking in the situation. Adam froze when he heard Nico snort and growl. He smelt something. He slowly lowered to a knee and kept his rifle shouldered and pointed in at the ready. He scanned forward through his goggles methodically, looking for any movement or sign of the man they were hunting. He could see Nico staring forward along the row of tanks and flicked on the infrared laser attached to his rifle. He hoped that Mark could see his laser through his night vision goggles as he moved up on the other side of the tanks.

A blinding light flicked on from a spotlight atop one of the tanks and pierced the darkness, pointed directly at Adam and Nico. Adam's goggles were immediately washed out from the illumination and Nico instinctively lunged forward to protect his master. Time seemed to slow down for Adam as he became acutely aware of the peril he was in. His vision was completely blinded and he leaned to his right, trying to escape the spotlight. Even through the blinding light, he could see the muzzle flashes from behind a storage tank. He started to point his rifle towards the flashes, but he felt like he was moving in slow motion; he waited for the incoming bullets to impact his body. Nico was several feet in front of Adam, and was now at a dead run forward. A shadow flashed across Adam's vision in an instant, and the glare from the spotlight was blocked by the figure of a person. Adam could hear the rounds impact the front of the figure and begin to rechocet all over the place. Nico immediately slammed backwards onto his paws, skidding across the concrete, trying to stop. The muzzle flashes continued and the rounds impacted the tanks and ground in front of the figure, whose back was to Adam. One of the deflected bullets flew into the spotlight and shattered it. The beam of light faded as the area plunged back into darkness. Adam could see again, through the glow in his goggles, the figure of a woman standing about 20 feet in front of him. He could recognize the fabric of a cape originating from her shoulders and flowing down around her body, and he could clearly make out the back of her hair flowing onto the cape. She leaned forward, and two beams of light surged from her eyes and slammed into an area next to one of the tanks. The rifle that the senior coyote was holding exploded, sending pieces of metal into the man's hands. He squealed in pain and stumbled forward into view. The woman swept forward and closed the distance with the assailant in an instant and struck him in the face. The man fell unconscious in a heap on the ground. She turned around and looked at Adam. He still knelt with his rifle and instinctively pointed in on the woman, the laser flickering around on her chest. Nico didn't move a muscle and stared at the woman. She peered back at them and her lips parted as she spoke, "Are you alright?"

Adam said nothing in reply, his mind trying to catch up to what he had just seen. Through the night vision, he could see her face and the dark contrast of her garb with a large symbol on her chest. He has seen this woman all over the television; he just stared at her. She began taking a couple of steps forward towards him, and he slowly lowered his rifle from his shoulder.

"Adam!" Mark shouted from the other side of a tank. Mark came running up, having heard the commotion and fearing the worst. "What the-"

"I-I'm ok…" Adam sputtered, still looking at the woman. He stood back to his feet and she continued slowly stepping forward towards them. He looked down at Nico, "We're ok…"

"Thank goodness," She said.

"Super...gi-" Mark trailed off.

"Yes, that's me. Good job rescuing those people, guys." Kara looked down at Nico, whom she was only a few steps away from. "Cute dog, what's its name?"

"Uh, Nico," Adam said. "His name is Nico."

"Nico, cool name," she said. Nico tilted his head at Kara when she said his name. Kara smiled and looked back up at Adam, "He's the last one, and he's all yours." She gestured back to the unconscious man on the ground. "Be safe guys. See you later, Nico…" Kara sprung into the air and flew off into the blackness, leaving the trio standing in bewilderment.

Adam scanned around with his goggles, but the woman was gone. Mark gestured towards the last suspect sprawled on the ground in front of them. Adam followed Mark forward and flipped the man onto his stomach and flex cuffed his wrists behind his back. "I've got this," Mark said. "Go check on the victims."

Adam nodded and turned back towards the open area of the warehouse, Nico trotted behind him. He could see two operators were standing near the wall where the victims were bound. He walked over, and downed Nico a few feet away. He swung the sling of his rifle around his torso, so it fell on his back and was out of the way. Adam moved towards the last woman chained to the wall and he could see through his goggles that she was terrified in the darkness. He reached up to the side of his helmet and flicked on a small flashlight and rotated his night vision goggles upward out of his face. The woman had a startled and scared look in her eyes, as tears welled up and glistened in the light. She cowered as he reached up to start releasing her chains. "Shhhhh shhhhh, está bien. ¿Como te llamas?" Adam said.

"Christina…" the woman moaned.

"Christina. Te vas a casa, ok? You're going home…" Adam said as the chain let go. She fell forward, her body and legs completely weak as Adam caught her before she hit the ground. He pulled her arm around his neck and lifted her up. The operators had already moved the others out of the building. Adam called to Nico, who ran to his left side and they walked out of the building, and into the night air. Christina had begun to sob as they moved through the damp air. A convoy of marked patrol cars and ambulances pushed through the gate and roared onto the property. Adam moved towards the closest ambulance and the paramedics leapt out of the vehicle. He delicately transferred the woman to the stretcher they were pulling out of the back of the vehicle. The paramedics quickly threw a blanket over her and rifled through equipment bags.

Adam and Nico walked away from the fray of vehicles and moved towards the corner of the property. Adam exhaled a deep breath and reached down to scratch Nico behind the ears. The adrenaline was beginning to subside in his body, and felt as the fatigue creeped through his bones. He reached up and released the chin strap fastening his helmet, and pulled the weight off of his head. He collapsed and sat onto a large piece of concrete that had been part of a loading dock when the building was new. Nico jumped up on the concrete and sat next to his master. Adam closed his eyes for a moment and recounted what had just happened in that dingy warehouse. _Her voice… something so familiar about her voice_ , he thought.

"Whoa… ok… Did Supergirl just save your life?" Mark's familiar voice said as he walked over to Adam.

"Yeah… she did…" Adam sighed. He straightened up, "The guys will never let me live that one down, huh?"

"Nope, pretty sure you'll be hearing about that one for awhile."

"I'd be dead if she hadn't shown up"

"We'd probably both be dead…" Mark retorted.

"Yeah… probably," Adam said, shaking his head.

"That was a close one, buddy," Mark said, looking over at Adam.

"Yes," Adam said as he stared up into the night sky. "Yes, it was."

* * *

Kara was floating above the warehouse in the sky just out of view of anyone on the ground, and she watched as the officers carried out several battered and bruised people from inside the building. She saw a line of patrol cars and ambulances pull into the front of the warehouse, the red and blue lights dancing across the ground. Kara tilted her head slightly when an operator emerged from the doorway supporting a woman by the arm, a medium sized dog trotted next to them. She had a nagging suspicion when she was inside of the warehouse and heard him speak earlier, but it was just confirmed when he walked out of the building. She was able to clearly see his face, with his night vision goggles flipped up and out of the way on his helmet.

Adam Walker.

The man that she had been on a short and interrupted dinner with the night her life on this planet changed. Kara sighed as she remembered him lying about his occupation during their first conversation. The situation that unfolded tonight was what he didn't want her to know about. She watched as Adam helped the woman onto a stretcher at the back of an ambulance and the paramedics went to work on her. She glided through the air, still upright and followed above Adam as he walked to the other end of the property with his dog. He slumped onto a large slab of concrete and pulled his helmet off of his head. She could hear the conversation between him and another man who walked up. Adam acknowledged that she had saved his life. A slight grin tugged at her mouth when she heard that. Adam looked up into the night sky, and unbeknownst to him, he was looking directly at Kara floating above him. With the darkness, there was no way that Adam could see her, but she looked back at him. Billions of people on the planet and millions of people in the city, how could their paths have crossed again like this? Kara wasn't sure, but she was glad that she was able to fly fast enough tonight to make it to the warehouse in time. She hoped that this wouldn't be the last time their paths crossed.

Kara ascended up and away from the warehouse, she was tired and wanted to get home. It had been a long night.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, there that is. Thanks for reading. The next chapter will more than likely establish the antagonist for the story-arc. As before, I am always open to critiques and constructive criticism. Like most everyone here, I am here to improve my writing and story-telling. Take care!**


	5. Jonas

**A/N: Phew, that was a long break in between chapters! Sorry about that, life and writer's block sometimes get in the way. I haven't given up on this one. As promised, this establishes the antagonist for my little story arc. I am starting to think of this as something that could play out over a couple of episodes, if it were TV based. It has also been pointed out to me that this has somewhat of a gritty tone, with some downer themes. I get that, but I think that it can be rewarding to see our superheros face evil that we face here in reality.**

 **I have been pretty busy writing the last couple of weeks, and this update includes two, fairly good-sized chapters (Jonas and Pursuit). I also added names to the chapters, since the numbering wasn't matching up with FanFiction's site. I hope you enjoy and as always, I am completely open to feedback and criticism, both good and bad. It's a very important aspect of becoming a better writer.**

* * *

A pickup truck bounced along the dirt road, headlights dancing across the uneven ground. The diesel motor purred to power up the grade. Jonas Kramer sat behind the steering wheel and bobbed in his seat as the vehicle negotiated some uneven terrain in the road, climbing towards the summit of the hill. At the pinnacle of the hill, multiple radio and cell phone towers climbed towards the sky and red anti-collision lights blinked in the starry night expanse.

"This is crazy," Jonas said outloud to himself as his wiry hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. He momentarily released the wheel and reached up to wipe a bead of sweat from his brow. He was a man in his early thirties with a tall, slender build and dark eyes. His clean-shaven jawline tensed as he drove forward through the night. Angst simmered through his body and the bags under his eyes behind his rimless glasses indicated that sleep had not been achieved in several days.

The road switched back onto itself over and over as the truck continued up the mountain, and then out of nowhere ended in a large clearing of trees. As the headlights swept across the clearing, they momentarily illuminated a black helicopter which had been was all but invisible in the darkness sitting stationary on the ground,. The rotor blades were not rotating, but bobbing up and down in the light breeze. Several men in military uniforms milled around the nose of the aircraft. Jonas sighed as he turned the headlights and motor of the vehicle off and kicked open the door. He bounced out of the truck and shook out the anxiety in his body, putting on a confident front. He was dressed in his typical dark uniform: black combat shirt and black rip-stop pants, but no other markings. He walked with a purpose over to the soldiers.

"The General?" Jonas asked.

"Up there, sir," one of the young soldiers said while pointing to the base of a radio tower a couple hundred yards away. Jonas nodded and started walking through the cool night air. He was not at all certain about what the General had cooked up for a plan, or why he should risk everything to go along with it. Either way, he felt obligated to at least hear the man out, given what he had done for him. But just meeting him like this could jeopardize his position at the DEO if anyone there found out. Jonas was walking through the trees up to the base of a tower where an older man was standing in a military officer's uniform. His back was to Jonas and he was looking off in the distance to the lights of the city.

"Sir…" Jonas said as he walked up behind the man.

"Joe, how are you? Thanks for coming," the man said while turning to face Jonas, who nodded in acknowledgement. "I know how much you are risking just agreeing to meet me."

"Yes sir, I would be cut loose so fast my head would spin," Jonas replied. "And that is the best case scenario."

"Then I appreciate you taking the time and risk to meet me," the man said. General Samuel Lane was a career military man who had worked his way through the ranks of the U.S. Army. His features were tough and weathered from years of service on multiple continents. He had a closely trimmed haircut and a large West Point class ring on his right hand. A large barrel-chested man, his presence was intimidating to those around him and he used that to sway things in his direction when the need arose. He promoted rapidly after a battle raged in Metropolis and Smallville; a battle that revealed the existence of aliens living on our world and throughout the galaxy. Kryptonians used a small midwest town and the urban center on the east coast as a battle-ground, and the damage was extensive and devastating. Lane had been the commanding officer of the U.S. Army's elite 75th Ranger Regiment during that time. Jonas was a junior officer in the Regiment, specifically 3rd Battalion, Bravo company, and was sent to Smallville, Kansas during the Kryptonian conflict. Many in his unit were lost during the fighting. The hostile kryptonians ripped through them like paper and Jonas had walked away physically unscathed, with not a scratch on him. Some of his closest friends were killed; men he had spent years with. Jonas wasn't a vengeful person prior to that incident, and that wasn't the first time that he had lost comrades that he cared about. But as he helped carry and gather up the bodies of so many of his brothers, something died inside of him. He blamed himself at first, but that quickly shifted to the aliens that came to his planet and wreaked so much havoc. Who the hell were humans to them anyway; nothing more than bugs that needed to be squashed.

Jonas hadn't fared well in the months after all of those funerals, and Lane could see that he was slipping down a rabbit hole. The general had served with Jonas' father in the past and felt he needed to look after the young officer. If Lane hadn't intervened, Jonas surely would have committed a disciplinary infraction that would have seen him kicked out of the Army. Lane knew of an security organization that was being formed in direct response to the revelation of alien life present on this world, and the new threats that this created. Lane knew if Jonas could refocus his anger and distrust to doing the work of this cutting-edge organization, The Department of Extranormal Operations, or DEO, he could be salvaged. Lane had pulled some strings and got Jonas a position within the burgeoning agency as an operations specialist. His combat and intelligence background blended perfectly with the mission-set of the new DEO. Jonas was able to direct his energy towards monitoring and protecting the Earth from extraterrestrial threats, something he was now extremely passionate about. They were the enemy and he was more than content expending his energy to find and neutralize them. He excelled at the new agency and promoted quickly as one of the senior operatives with many missions completed.

Lane kept tabs on his progress in the DEO as he himself promoted to become a four-star general serving as the Chief of Staff of Intelligence and Research. This position was added to the Joint Chiefs of Staff after the destruction that was caused from aliens battling with each other on U.S. soil. It was clear that the United States, and the world, for that matter, was woefully unprepared to fight back in the event that aliens once again set their sights on Earth. As a result, a specific division of the government was created to research new weapons systems and defenses, and gather intelligence on any other potential or current extraterrestrial threats. The DEO fell under this new portion of the government that was overseen by General Sam Lane. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone knows exactly what intelligence and research capabilities are currently in place under General Lane. Compartmentalization is the name of the game when it comes to intelligence and research projects. It keeps the top secret information limited to only what people need to know to accomplish given tasks. An intelligence group might know that they need to gather information on a certain individual, but they won't know why or the overall objective is for doing so. Compartmentalization also provides plausible deniability to those who head the government, if they are never briefed about a controversial mission, they can never be in a position to approve or deny that mission. Furthermore, it allows for an operation or an agency to be shuttered with little outside influence from the public or media, should something break bad.

The official position of the U.S. government was that it could neither confirm nor deny the existence of any alien-hunting/intelligence agencies. The DEO operated independently of any government oversight, and therefore not even Lane knew exactly what was going on at the agency. However, when a new Kryptonian showed up in National City several weeks ago, he started hearing rumors that this alien had started working with DEO. The general's own satellite data confirmed that this alien was traveling to and from the DEO's desert site located outside of National City. When the DEO director, Hank Henshaw, refused to disclose any specifics about this new Kryptonian except to say that she was not a threat, he was incensed. These alien freaks were the threat, regardless of whether the media had given them a quaint nickname. Superman, Supergirl; they were all the same, as far as Lane was concerned. And just because this latest alien to reveal it's existance happened to look like a blonde cheerleader, doesn't mean it posed any less a threat.

"Look sir, I know that I owe you… probably more than I could ever repay, but I have a feeling you are going to ask me to do something that is beyond my control," Jonas dispensed with the pleasantries.

"Now Joe, I wouldn't ask you to risk so much for a trivial reason. You know that," the general replied. "And I know for a fact that you can handle this."

"The fact that I am here, means I am willing to hear you out. While I can't give you specifics, I'm sure you have heard about some of the absurd things happened at the DEO," Jonas said.

"I've heard enough."

"Good, then you know that it is complete bullshit. There is no way it can be allowed to continue."

"If I pull the director in and force him to read me into the progr-"

"He's completely brainwashed," Jonas quipped back. "He would scrub the program and reallocate off the servers of the DEO. But make no mistake, he won't stop what he is doing. He believes in it. If you could get rid of him and reappoint a new head of the agen-"

"Not an option," the general fired back. "At least… not right now. He has a lot of support back in DC and I would need something ironclad to bring him down."

Jonas stood silently for a moment and then asked, "So what do you need from me, sir?"

"DEO files regarding this new alien… Supergirl, or whatever they are calling her. I need to know who she is and how she can be controlled."

"To what end?"

"The death or capture of this freak. We have our hands full with the one that hangs around Metropolis. If they ever decided to team up, they could end us. They could kill every human on this planet. I know that she is working with the DEO," the general said looking at Jonas, who confirmed his statement with a deep breath in and out. "I think it dishonors the memory of all those that have died since these freaks showed up on planet. It dishonors the soldiers that we lost."

Jonas stepped to the side and stood next to the general, looking out at the city's skyline in the distance. The general turned and stood next him and looked out at the view as Jonas spoke, "The servers are controlled, I can't give you a live link. I could do a download onto a storage device."

"Keep it to specifically to this new alien, the more information you access and copy the more red flags it could throw up. Also, if you can use someone else's login that'll help."

"I can do that," Jonas said.

"Don't get burned, I need you on the inside. You're no good to me if you are discovered. Is that clear?"

"I understand, sir."

"If we can make this happen, it will atone for our brothers," Lane turned and looked at Jonas. "This is a righteous mission."

"Yes sir," Jonas said still looking at the city. "I'll contact you when it's done. As far as a tactical plan, I would need some help to ge-"

"You let me worry about that," the general cut him off. Jonas sighed and nodded. "Good. Let's get the hell out of here." Both men walked back down the hill towards the vehicles in silence. Just before parting the general turned to Jonas and said, "Be careful, Joe."

"Roger that, sir," Jonas said over his shoulder as he walked over to his truck. He quickly jumped back in the driver's seat and started the diesel motor. He flipped on the headlights and put the truck into gear and pulled forward into a u-turn. As he left the clearing of trees, he could see the anti-collision lights on the helicopter start to flash as figures were loading into the back cabin. He stared forward and drove in silence, no radio music or anything playing on the stereo. Jonas had a lot on his mind.

* * *

Alexandra Danvers walked through the dimly lit hallway, a black bag hung off of her left shoulder. She reached the end of the hall and stopped at the last door, isolating a key on her keyring and slid it into the deadbolt. She turned the lock and pushed the door open with her knee and sidestepped into a darkened apartment. The door closed with a click behind her, she slid the backpack off of her slender shoulders and set it on the ground while reaching up and flipping a light switch on the wall. The lamps and ceiling lights flicked on and illuminated Kara's apartment. The living room window was still open, which meant that Kara was still out flying around. Alex had just talked her while driving, just before getting off the freeway and told her about the NCPD raiding a warehouse on the other side of town. She assumed Kara would be heading home when she was finished saving the day, as she always does. Alex walked over to the kitchen counter and set her car keys down and reached under her jacket and pulled out a black handgun and a badge wallet and set them next to the keys. The identification with her picture on it said Department of Extranormal Operations. Alex was planning on staying the night at her sister's since they both were working late and they wanted to go out to brunch once the sun came up. Alex pulled her phone out of a pocket and was scrolling through a list of emails.

A gust of wind from the window and Kara was standing next to the table in her red and blue garb. "Hey sis!" she chirped gleefully.

"Hey Kara," Alex said still looking at her phone. "How's the hero business?"

"You know… business is a-booming," Kara said walking to the refrigerator and swung open the door. She pulled out a bottle of water and twisted off the cap and started drinking.

"That's unfortunate, you'd think the bad guys would get a hint," Alex said still fiddling with her phone.

Kara finished her drink and said, "Yeah, like the cartel warehouse you pointed me towards. That was pretty terrible. It's hard to believe that humans can treat one another like that."

"Kryptonians never treated each other poorly?"

"No, we definitely had our low points. I just have high hopes for this planet," Kara said.

"Always the optimist…" Alex said tapping her screen to delete some messages.

"And so idealistic, right?" Kara said grinning.

"MmmHmm," Alex didn't look up.

"I saved a couple of police officers tonight at the warehouse you sent me to. Oh, and an adorable police dog named Nico," Kara said as she walked out of the kitchen towards her bedroom. Alex remained leaning up against the counter, still entranced in her phone. "I recognized one of the officers, he was the one with the dog."

This made Alex pause, "What do you mean you recognized one of the officers? Had you seen him before on a different incident?"

Kara was talking from her bedroom while she changed, "Well… I actually recognized him from a couple of weeks ago. We had dinner."

"What?" Alex stood up from the counter and set her phone down. She was intrigued.

"Do you remember when someone tried to sabotage your plane and blow it up because you work for the DEO, and then I had to come and _gently_ set the plane into the bay and rescue everybody, including you. Thereby revealing myself to the whole world and expos-"

"Of course I remember, Kara!" Alex said as she walked towards the bedroom.

"Well, you know I was on a blind date that night. A blind date that _you_ insisted I go on…"

"Yeah…"

"Well, the man I was on a date with-"

"No!" Alex snapped in disbelief. She walked into Kara's bedroom.

"Yes! Same guy," Kara said as she slid a baggy long-sleeved tee shirt over her head. "What are the odds, huh!?"

Alex had a worried look on her face, "The guy you went on a date with was a police officer that you saved tonight…" She paused, "Oh Kara, did he recognize you?"

"Recognize me? No, no. It was pitch black in that warehouse and he was wearing night vision goggles."

"Goggles?"

"Yeah, so get this. When I am having a drink with him, he totally lies about being a cop. He tells me that he works for the Public Health Department. He gets a phone call about your plane being in trouble and when he gets up, I give him a once over," Kara gestures her eyes up and down. "And I see a gun on his hip. Of course, I start freaking out for a second and then I see the badge in his back pocket. So, I was relieved that he wasn't just some guy hauling a gun around for no reason…"

"Kara, why'd he have goggles on tonight!?" Alex said, trying to keep Kara on task.

"Oh yeah, not only is he a cop, but he is on the SWAT team, or something," Kara said walking back out of the bedroom to the living room.

"SWAT team…" Alex said following her.

"Yeah, and his dog was adorable. Tilted his head and everything when I said his name… Nico."

Alex was processing the story, "Nico…"

"Yeah, cool name, huh?" she said as she plopped down on the couch and looked for the remote to the TV. "I wanted to pet him so bad, he was just so cute… but, I know, I know… you aren't supposed to pet police dogs without asking the handler first because-"

"And you're sure that he didn't recognize you?" Alex said, concerned.

"Yes, I'm almost positive." She said as she flicked on the TV.

"Kara…"

"It's fine, Alex. Man, you worry a lot."

"I'm your big sister, of course I worry about you. Nothing will ever change that." Alex said as she walked over to the counter and grabbed her phone. "Do you remember his name?"

"I said, it was Nico."

"Not the dog's name, ding-dong. The cop's name."

"Oh. Adam Walker," Kara said as she channel surfed. "He works for the National City Police Department, not the National City Public Health Department."

"Adam... Walker… I'm gonna check him out…" Alex said while typing into her phone.

"Alex, don't!" Kara pleaded. "I swear he didn't recognize me. It's fine."

Alex read from her phone, "Adam Walker. Assigned to the NCPD Rapid Response Unit for several years, canine partner is Nico. Married-"

"Married!? What the hell do you mean, married!?" Kara lept from the couch and started walking over.

"Widower."

Kara stopped walking, "Oh."

"Was married to Elizabeth Walker for eight years. She was diagnosed with cancer. She died almost two years ago. Looks like he took it hard, was sent in for a fitness-for-duty psych eval. Bosses gave him the dog, Nico, shortly thereafter."

"That's terrible."

"Looks like he is doing all right, still with the unit, and he obviously is trying to move on if he is going on blind dates," Alex said looking at Kara.

"He was nervous. Just as nervous as I was," Kara recollected. "It was kind of comforting knowing he was just as worried and nervous as I was."

"Is this him?" Alex turns her phone around and shows Kara a picture. It was a picture of Adam in front of a helicopter. He was taking a knee and Nico was sitting on his left side looking attentively at the camera.

"Yeah," Kara cocks her head to the side as looks at the photo.

"Too bad my plane had to crash, he's cute." Alex said as she turned the phone back around and looked at the photo some more.

"I know…"

"Stay away from him," Alex said..

"What?"

"Kara, he doesn't need saving. You don't need to swoop in and rescue him."

"Well… actually…" Kara trailed off.

"You know what I mean!" Alex said exasperated. "From gunfire, yes… occasionally. But he isn't a broken soul that you need to fix. You'll just complicate his life exponentially if you slip up and he figures out who you are."

"I know. I know," Kara conceded.

"I don't mean that you can't ever have anyone, what about James from your office?" Alex said as they both walked back over and sat on the couch.

"Things are still a little complicated with his on-again off-again girlfriend…"

"Ok, probably best to avoid that drama."

"Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"His dog was really cute."

"You're hopeless."

* * *

The Department of Extranormal Operations was situated underneath the remnants of an old military ammo depot in the desert outside of National City. Isolated and desolate, it's geography provided the first layer of security for the agency. It's location also put it within 20 miles of a large fiber optic bundle that runs up and down the west coast, providing telecom and internet to the western portion of North America. This allows the agency to quietly access vast amounts of data to complete its intelligence missions. The operations area of the underground complex was split into several different areas: armory, med-bay, situation room, holding areas, server rooms, and training areas.

Jonas walked briskly down a long concrete corridor towards the situation room carrying a file folder. His boots snapped out a rhythm on the cement floor as he walked. Other agents were moving through the hallway, each seeking to complete different tasks. A couple agents acknowledged Jonas as he walked, and he would give them a slight nod in return. He stepped into the large expanse of the situation room and walked towards the middle of the space. On the far wall, there were a huge bank of monitors, each with its own camera, satellite, or information feed on it. A surveillance mission was currently underway and large group of people were closely scrutinizing the screens on the wall and discussing points of the mission. Jonas turned and walked out of the situation room and continued down another hallway. He pivoted on a foot and turned into a doorway. In this room were multiple computer terminals set up in rows and in the back corner of the room, a woman sat in front of screen punching away at the keys. She was the only other agent in the room. An attractive woman in her early thirties, with sharp features and short dark brown hair the hung down to her jawline. She was wearing the standard black DEO uniform and had a handgun hanging from a drop-leg holster on her right thigh. Jonas recognized her immediately.

Alex Danvers.

 _Perfect_ , Jonas thought. This was the adoptive sister of Kara Zor-El; this was Supergirl's sister. Jonas had joined the agency a few months before Alex, and he had been on many missions with her. Everyone around the agency knew that the main reason she was accepted into the agency was because of her alien sister. She had a perspective that no one else did, having grown up with an alien in her house. That still didn't prevent some animosity from her coworkers because of those who felt that she had been spoon fed by the director. Jonas didn't really have any room to dislike her for that, since a general pulling some strings was the only reason he was at the agency. However, he was only ever able to tolerate working with her, but had never been overly thrilled with having someone so closely connected to an alien working inside the agency. Either way, Jonas and Alex had worked together for a long time and they were two of the original agents at the agency.

"Hey Kramer," Alex said from behind her monitor.

"Danvers," Jonas acknowledged. He moved to sit at the computer directly in front of her and set the file folder down. Alex glanced up at him as he sat down in front of her. Jonas' tolerance of her was only sustained because she appeared to use her knowledge to help the agency and its mission. Jonas had been on the team that had apprehended Kara Zor-El after she had publically revealed herself to the world by saving Alex's plane. He was the one who had taken the tranquilizer shot on the alien and hit her right in the chest, and she had quickly fallen out of the sky. They had moved into the alley, secured her, and brought her back to the DEO. The alien had no idea what her precious sister did for a living, hunting aliens that posed a threat to the planet. Jonas had been watching the camera feed from the room when Kara had woken up shackled to a table and was greeted by the director of the DEO and her sister. She had thought that Alex had worked at museum, or something. So, this was quite a shock. Then it was Jonas' turn to be shocked when the director let that freak start working with them on a DEO mission. Jonas had thought it was a ploy by the director to get rid of Kara Zor-El when he sent her onto that lonely highway to fight an extremely dangerous alien by herself. He figured that she would be killed in the fight and then his team would have to go in and clean up. Two-birds with one stone, he had thought. But she had survived, and she beat the other alien. She didn't kill it, the alien killed itself rather than be captured.

God, and then the media had given her that name. _Supergirl_. Just like the other one that caused so much destruction in Kansas and Metropolis. So many of his brothers had died because of these Kryptonians; aliens- they were aliens. And the director continued to work with her and that's when Jonas couldn't take it anymore.

"What are you up to today," Alex asked.

"Just working up a tip that came in," Jonas replied, breaking from his thoughts. "Haven't seen your sister around today."

"Yeah, it has been a little quiet here so she is running around National City doing her thing." Alex said.

"Maybe it's time for a vacation," Jonas replied.

"Yeah, she works so hard and there are so many who don't appreciate what she does for us," Alex said still typing away at her keyboard. Anger flashed in Jonas' eyes but he kept his head down in his computer. Alex continued, "What about you? You could probably use a vacation."

"Me? A vacation? I wouldn't know what to do with myself."

"Come on Kramer, I'm sure you'd figure something out," Alex snorted as she was logging out of her computer.

"The beach is always nice. Maybe I could head there to get out of town for a couple of days."

"There you go, that's the spirit," Alex said as she stood from her computer and started walking down the bank of computers towards the door to the room.

"You'll have to recommend some beaches for me," Jonas said looking up with a slight forced smile.

"Uh-huh, take care," Alex said with a wave as she slipped out of the room. Jonas nodded with a grin as she left and his face went blank as soon as he was alone. He looked back at his screen and within seconds was logged out of the computer he had been sitting at. He jumped up from his workstation and slid around to where Alex had been sitting. The chair was still warm and he pulled up to her computer and typed quickly on the keyboard. He logged in quickly with her password and brought up the mainframe. All the emphasis on digital security in the past several years, and Alex Danvers' account would be compromised by someone glancing over her shoulder a couple of days ago. He pulled a tiny memory stick from his pocket and put it in a USB slot on the CPU. He quickly found the DEO file on Kara Zor-El and copied it onto the drive. The file that had every bit of data on the alien that was known by the agency.

Jonas' head snapped up when he heard the distinctive sound of boots closing in from the end of the hallway. He quickly logged back out and snatched the memory drive from the slot. He jumped back to his bank of computers when the door opened and Alex came back in the room.

"Forgot my sunglasses… duh," Alex waved as she shuffled back in the room. She saw Jonas standing next to his computer, "Done already?"

"Yeah, I think I'll make it an early day," Jonas said as he feigned gathering paperwork up.

"Asilomar State Beach, it's beautiful. Definitely worth a couple day stay," Alex said grabbing a pair of sunglasses from next to the keyboard.

"I'll look into it, thanks."

"Great, have a good one," Alex said heading for the door again.

"You too."

Jonas released some tension from his shoulders when she walked out of the room again. He waited a few moments until he couldn't hear her boots anymore and walked out of the room. He walked down another large concrete corridor towards the underground parking structure and moved towards his pickup truck. The motor purred to life and he pulled out of the underground structure into the afternoon light. Jonas instinctively checked his rearview mirror as he drove down the dirt road. After fifteen minutes, the truck reached the asphalt of the two lane highway that lead back towards National City and turned. He pulled out his phone tapped on the screen with one hand into the text field, _IT'S DONE_.

Jonas could now see the city skyline in the distance as the sun set behind downtown skyscrapers. He heard his phone chirp and picked it up and looked at the screen.

 _GOOD, I'LL CONTACT YOU IN A COUPLE DAYS_ , the reply read. Jonas sighed and set the phone down as he continued back towards the city.

* * *

 **All right, onto chapter 5! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Take care!**


	6. Pursuit

**Well, here it is. We are swinging into the story arc now that the 'set-up' chapters are out of the way. I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

"No change at the target building," a voice squawked over the radio. Adam shifted in the driver's seat of his Tahoe and reached for a water bottle. He untwisted the cap, taking a long drink and scanned the alley in front of him. He readjusted the ballistic vest he was wearing to try and get comfortable. Adam could hear soft breathing coming from the large kennel that replaced the backseat of his SUV, as Nico napped hard in the late afternoon. They had been sitting in this position for several hours watching the back of the building for any signs of movement. The team leader wanted Adam and Nico on the backside of the building to be ready to chase their quarry, should he emerge trying to escape.

The Rapid Response Squad had been tasked with locating and arresting a man wanted in a string of violent bank robberies across National City. Investigators were growing increasingly concerned with this suspect due to his apparent escalation of force used during the course of the crimes, so they had contacted Adam's unit to handle this operation. A silent witness tip identified the man as Timothy Bowling and detectives had quickly interviewed his family and friends in an attempt to locate him. They passed along disturbing declarations from Tim that he would not be taken alive and he hoped to take as many cops as he could along with him. According to the family, he was desperate. The noose was tightening and he knew that the cops were closing in on him. It was only a matter of time and he would be faced with fighting or fleeing. The maintenance employee of this multi-story extended-stay had recognized Tim's picture from the news and called the NCPD. The RRS had quickly been called in to set up surveillance and arrest teams on the building.

Adam scanned to the left and right down either side of the block, trying to stay mentally alert. He had been sitting in one spot idling for hours. "Maintenance worker is saying that the target is possibly staying in room 331, we are getting an arrest team together to hit that room," the team leader said through the radio. "Walker, be ready if he comes squirting out of the back. I'll let you know when we are moving up."

"I copy," Adam said into the microphone of his car radio. Adam was used to these missions, they were commonplace for the RRS. He was usually able to focus on surveillance without any troubles, but today his mind was preoccupied. Just several nights ago, he came a split-second away from being killed during that operation at the warehouse on the east side of National City. Adam and his dog had been saved by an alien wearing a red cape and boots. The image of her face was seared into his mind, through the green tint of the night vision goggles he had been wearing. This was the second time he had been close to her in person. The first was when she had been standing on the wing of a crippled airliner that she had just set down in the bay. She had flown away as he was swimming towards the aircraft. And then the other night, she had appeared again and unequivocally saved his life. Nagging thoughts kept tugging at Adam and he would catch himself watching the sky, looking at the clouds. At first, he wasn't sure what he was even looking for, but deep down he was hoping to catch another glimpse of this woman. There was something very familiar about her. Her voice? Her face? He couldn't pinpoint anything in his thoughts, but he couldn't shrug them away either.

Adam knew how close he had come to dying in that dingy warehouse, but the only emotion he could muster was apathy. He didn't care. On the surface, Adam was moving on from the loss of his wife, but deep down the despair that still remained manifested in an indifferent attitude towards risk. And his job had plenty of risk. Workgroups in the military and civilian law enforcement like Adam's unit teach their members to be specialists in managing risk when undertaking missions. This increases the odds of a positive outcome during dangerous situations. In Adam's mind, if he went down on the job, maybe he could see his Lizzy again; he could be free of the daily pain of living without her. He thought often of the ending of a popular law enforcement poem: _dear officer, come walk a beat on heaven's streets, you've done your time in hell_. If only that could be true. If only he could see those that he has lost again. Deep down, the realist in him believed that there was no afterlife. There was no Heaven or Valhalla. The only thing he had to look forward to was release.

"Walker, we're moving up to the door, you copy?" the team leader barked through the radio.

He was shook from his thoughts, "I copy, I have eyes on the back alley."

Adam refocused his attention to the target building across the street. Movement on a third floor window caught his eye as a head poked out and peered around. A man quickly crawled out onto the fire escape scaffolding and started descending towards the ground. It was Timothy Bowling. "He's bailing out the back, target is bailing out the back!" Adam yelled into the radio as he slammed the gear lever down and slammed on the gas pedal. The vehicle lurched forward into the street and an approaching car blared its horn as Adam cut in front of him and into the alley. Bowling looked up at Adam's approaching SUV and grabbed behind a dumpster. Adam could see him pull out a bicycle and swing his leg over the frame and push forward. Bowling pedaled furiously down the alley.

"Guys, he is on a bicycle heading westbound out of the alley," Adam updated the team on the radio and flipped on the emergency lights and siren in his vehicle. As the vehicle bounced through large divots in the pavement of alley, Adam could hear Nico start whimpering with excitement back in the kennel. He could see the red and blue lights from his LEDs flickering on the brick walls of the buildings as it flashed by.

Bowling reached the other end of the alley and another SUV with red and blue lights flashing pulled into his path. He swerved around the vehicle at the last minute and turned left onto the street. This SUV had more members of the RRS and they had set up on the opposite side of the alley from Adam. The police officer put the vehicle into reverse and the tires squealed as the SUV jerked backwards in an attempt to pursue Bowling. A taxi cab approached from down the block and didn't see the SUV backing out of the alley onto the street. Adam could hear the crunching of metal and see the explosion of the airbags as they deployed in both vehicles during the collision. He looked over as he reached the exit of the alley and could see that the backup vehicle had been disabled in the crash and he would be on his own, temporarily. He flipped the wheel left and tore out of the alley onto the street.

"Southbound on 3rd Street," Adam spoke into the radio as he drove on. He was closing the distance on Bowling rapidly, but they were also approaching an intersection with cars stopped.

Bowling weaved down the middle of two lanes and rode between the cars waiting for the signal to change. Adam approached the stopped vehicles with lights and siren wailing looking for a hole to thread his SUV through. He could see Bowling turn right on the avenue and pedal away from the intersection. Frustrated, he jerked the steering wheel to the left and darted into the oncoming traffic lanes and pulled up to the edge of the intersection. Miraculously, all the other vehicles were yielding to his emergency lights and he pulled through the intersection and turned right, following Bowling.

"Westbound Starwood, westbound Starwood, guys," Adam updated in the radio. Nico was bouncing all over the back of the kennel, trying to stay upright during the roller coaster ride of a pursuit.

Bowling pedaled hard and he was halfway down the block when his fortune ran out and a garbage truck pulled out from another side alley. The edge of his handlebars barely clipped the back bumper of the truck and it was enough to spit Bowling over the handlebars of the bike onto the ground. Bowling immediately leapt to his feet and went back to the bicycle lying on the ground. The front tire was bent at an awkward angle. He looked up and saw Adam's SUV approaching from the intersection, dropped the crippled bike and darted into the first door he could see. It was a commercial building with a large ornate lobby; people stared at him as he ran across the marble floor.

Adam saw Bowling crash and came to a squealing halt right next to the bike, he could see the top of Bowling's head moving through the lobby of the building. He kicked open the SUV's door and slid out of the truck, grabbing the rifle that had been propped between the center console and the driver's seat. He clicked open the back door and Nico trotted out of the kennel as Adam clipped a short lead that was on his belt to the dog's harness. As he started running for the door, he could hear people start screaming inside. He burst through the doors inside and could see Bowling running down a long foyer, he was holding a silver handgun in his left hand. As people saw him running towards them with the gun, they were cowering towards the floor and screaming in horror. "Suspect is on foot… Ran into the PMDG building… 136 Starwood… 10-51… subject armed with a handgun…" Adam panted updates into the radio on his plate carrier as he ran hard.

Bowling was desperate, running as fast as he could to get away. He knew that this was it. He would either get away or die trying. The adrenaline surging through his body helped impede fear that was flashing around his mind. He saw a door to a stairway at his right and turned to check behind him; seeing a cop with a dog at his side running through the building after him. He raised his handgun and fired three rounds in his direction, sending the cop diving to side of foyer behind a large planter box.

Adam immediately shouldered his rifle and peaked his head from behind the slab of stone, as Bowling was diving into a stairwell door. People were screaming and scattering around all over the place after the gunshots rang out. There was no way he could chance sending rounds back downrange towards Bowling without potentially hitting a civilian. He jumped up and Nico followed dutifully at his side as they ran for the same door. Adam slowed momentarily and flicked the door open to cover any ambush that might be waiting for him. As soon as the door opened, he could hear pounding footsteps ascending the stairwell. "Suspect heading up the stairs! Shots fired!" Adam yelled into his radio. He ran forward and started taking bounding strides, covering multiple stairsteps with each leap. Nico cantored next to him, staying out from underfoot. Adam's heartbeat pounded in his ears as he breathed heavily from exertion. He could hear Bowling stomping up the steps several flights above him.

Bowling's chest burned as he ascended the stairwell; he could hear the cop's boots tapping and the dog's claws clicking as they pursued. He ran hard, he had to either outrun this cop or take him down; he knew a throng of other cops were on the way. He vaulted up onto the landing at the top of the stairwell. There was a large metal fire door that must lead to the building's roof. This seemed as good a place as any to try his luck. He kicked open metal door, but didn't go through. He wanted to make the noise, so that the cop would think that he ran out onto the roof. Bowling turned around and crouched with his handgun pointed at the landing just below him; and he waited.

Adam continued climbing. He heard a door open at the top of the stairwell. Roof. He must've gone onto the roof. He was moving at a steady run and he rounded the railing onto a landing and the muzzle flashes started above him. The bullets impacted the cement all around his feet. Adam lost count of the pops from the handgun firing at him. He kept moving and simultaneously swung his rifle up to his shoulder and rotated the weapon's safety off. As soon as the red dot sight from his weapon was in the path of his eyesight, he began firing back towards the muzzle flashes. He couldn't stop moving; if he stopped moving he knew he would be hit. He saw one of his rounds rip through Bowling's shoulder. A yelp from Bowling, and he fell backwards out of view. Adam was still moving fast and he impacted the wall just before the last set of stairs. He saw the top metal door open and close. He looked down at Nico who was still on his left side, at first glance appeared to be unscathed. He lept up the last several sets of stairs to the top landing. Blood was splattered on the ground and a handgun was laying next to the fire door. "Suspect is on the roof," Adam said into his microphone. He paused for a moment and kicked the door open revealing the bright evening light.

The roof stretched out in front him and Adam sidestepped across the threshold of the door before stepping onto the white tar and gravel surface. Adam could hear sirens wailing on the street below as other officers were arriving at the commercial building. Large air handler units were spread across the expanse and he could see another stairwell on the other end of the roof. The red blood on the reflective white roof-paint was unmistakable and lead out of the doorway and to the right. Adam stepped out onto the roof and crouched down to Nico, reaching down with his left hand and unclipping the leash from the dog's collar. Adam whispered the command to search and Nico shot forward and rounded the corner of the stairwell exit out of view. He tried to slow his breathing so he could hear where Nico was on the roof.

A creak came from behind him and he whipped around just in time to block the knife with his rifle, coming in an overhead stabbing motion. Bowling was on top of him. Adam released his grip on his rifle and grabbed for Bowling's wrists to control the knife. Bowling rotated his right elbow around and struck Adam across the temple, causing fuzziness to flash through his head from the impact. Adam staggered back several steps fell onto his backside. Bowling redistributed his weight and lunged forward, trying to stab Adam while he was down.

Nico came crashing in at a full run and ripped into Bowling's right forearm with his teeth. The momentum flung Nico and Bowling in an acrobatic spin through the air as the knife flew out of his hand. They both landed on the ground in a heap. Nico had ahold of Bowling's arm and he wouldn't give it up for anything; his teeth sunk down to the bone. Bowling squealed in pain.

"Meet Nico, asshole," Adam hissed as he stumbled back to his feet. He was still slightly dazed and stumbled forward. Nico was still growling at Bowling while holding his arm in his teeth and tugging repeatedly. "Shot in one arm, the other shredded, and you're going to jail… you're having rough day Timmy," Adam said as he knelt down and grabbed Bowling's free arm while Nico continued to control the other. He clicked one side of the handcuffs onto his wrist and reached over and grabbed just to the side of Nico's mouth and gave the dog the command to release. Nico looked up at Adam and unlatched his jaws from the man's arm. He scampered a couple of steps backwards and barked excitedly.

RRS members and other officers burst out of the stairway door and rushed over to Adam, who was hunched over the suspect. "Are you alright!? Are you injured!?" one of Adam's teammates said to him.

"I'm all right," Adam said while the other officers grabbed onto Bowling. Adam slumped back and sat on the ground, exhausted. His lungs still burned from the sprint up the stairs and the subsequent fight. Officers were chattering into their radios about the suspect being shot and bit by a dog. Mark came walking up.

"Hey track star," he said.

"Hey brother," Adam replied, still out of breath.

"Get your workout in for the day?"

"I'd say so…"

"You sure you're ok?" Mark asked while handing him a bottle of water.

"Yeah, he just rung my bell a little with a right hook," Adam said while rubbing the side of his head.

"Oh man, you can't afford to give up any brain cells, bro."

"Tru dat…" The officers were lifting Bowling back to his feet and dragging him towards the stairway. "Give them a hand with him, yeah? I'll be down in a minute," Adam said.

Mark nodded and followed them into the stairway. Adam stood back to his feet and stumbled over to the edge of the building. He was sweating heavily and his head throbbed. He sat down on an air handler and Nico jumped up and sat next to him. The dog was still panting rapidly, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. Adam unscrewed the top off the water bottle and poured some in his hand, which Nico lapped up vigorously.

"He must be thirsty after all that," a voice said above Adam.

Startled, Adam looked up at a woman with a red cape suspended in the sky directly above him. "You," he stuttered as he stood.

"Yes… me. Sorry I'm too late," she apologized. "I was hung up with something else."

Adam looked at her for a moment. "Um, we were able to take care of it, thankfully," he said, finally.

"Yes, you didn't need my help, after all."

Adam shook his head back and forth trying to clear his thoughts. "Yes… but… I do think that I need to thank you… for the warehouse a few days ago."

"That's not necessary."

"No… no, it definitely is. You saved my life," Adam said.

"Nico too," she said through a grin. Nico tilted his head at her and wagged his tail.

"Yes, yes… him too. For sure."

"I don't suppose…" she trailed off. Adam just blinked at her, still not believing he was talking to this woman. "Well, I don't suppose I could pet him?" she asked a bit meekly.

"Uh… sure… you can pet him." Adam stammered. She smiled and descended slowly out of the sky.

"Hey Nico," she said a few feet from the ground. Nico wagged his tail enthusiastically and his ears were laid back anticipating the attention he was about to get. She reached out a hand to pet him and he licked her eagerly. Her boots landed gently on the roof and she knelt down and started scritching Nico all over his head and shoulders. The dog was loving it and turned and leaned on the woman, as to provide her with ample position to pet him all over. "Oh yes, you are such a good dog," she said in a praising voice.

Adam stood a couple few feet away gawking at this woman. A woman who was capable of extraordinary things, but wanted nothing more than to pet his dog. How was this possible? He didn't know what to think, he didn't know what to say. He was staring at her and Nico. Something so familiar; her voice. She glanced back up at him and he was shook. Adam turned around and looked out at the city skyline, trying to collect his thoughts.

Nico licked her in the face and she happily recoiled, "hee hee, you are a very nice boy. Yes, you are." Nico was squirming all around excitedly as she loved on him. "No, licks to the face, though. That would be against some Public Health Department rules, I'm sure… hee hee, yes."

Adam spun around. What had he just heard? What the hell did she just say? Why would she say that?

 _Public Health Department_.

Adam had a stunned look on his face as he was processing what he had just heard. She looked back up at Adam and immediately realized something was wrong. It was all over his face, it was in his eyes. She stood quickly and faced him.

"Uh, I should probably get going…" she said.

"Wait-"

"I really need to get going," she levitated off the roof a few inches and started floating backwards away from Adam.

"Keira," Adam trailed off trying to sort through his thoughts.

"Thanks for letting me pet your dog," she said still floating backwards.

"Kalli, no… Kari," Adam sputtered stepping forward after her.

"Be safe out there… uh, you too Nico," she turned away from them still floating across the roof.

"Kara."

She froze.

"Kara Danvers." Adam said with a realization. "We had a drink weeks ago at that restaurant… the night the plane crashed. You saved the plane… that's why you left the restaurant."

"Oh no," Kara said with a sigh and turned back around to face him, still floating off the ground.

"You saved the plane," Adam repeated still stepping towards her. "And then you saved me."

"Adam."

He stopped mid step.

"I'm sorry, Adam. You don't deserve the complications that come with knowing what you now know," Kara said sincerely. "This is something you should probably keep to yourself."

Adam just looked at her with a dismayed look on his face. She looked back at him with a crestfallen look in her eyes. How could this be happening? Nico trotted up to Kara and licked her hand again.

This brought her attention back to the dog, "Oh Nico, I'm an idiot." Nico didn't care he just loved getting attention from her. "I have to go, sweetie," she said to the affectionate dog. She rose into the air away from the roof and looked at the man in front of her. "Take care, Adam," she said.

"You too… Kara," he said reactively. Kara quickly and silently accelerated away from the rooftop and Adam followed her with his eyes until she was out of sight in the whispy cloud layers.

He staggered back over to where he had been sitting and slumped back onto the air handler. His mind was cacophony of jumbled thoughts and he couldn't seem to focus on anything in particular.

"Walker, you still up on the roof?" the radio on his vest crackled. Adam jumped at the noise.

"Uh… copy… I'll be down in a minute…" Adam tried to hide the tremble in his voice.

He stood and teetered back to the stairwell entrance but stopped before going inside and looked back to the sky. Things have definitely changed.

* * *

Kara zoomed up away from the rooftop into a thin layer of clouds and slowed to a silent hover.

 _Stupid, stupid, stupid_ , she thought. How could she be so careless? She knew better than that. She barely knew this man, and she certainly didn't know how he was going to react to this revelation. This could be bad; really bad. Kara tilted her head back and closed her eyes as the frustration and regret brewed inside of her. She would have to tell Alex and she could only anticipate the barrage of criticism and questions that were sure to come.

Kara had heard the gunshots from miles away and started flying towards the commotion and came in from a high altitude to see Adam fighting on the roof with a criminal and Nico running back towards his master. She had immediately recognized the pair and was astounded that she had run into them again so soon. She rushed to reach the conflict as Adam was about to be stabbed, but halted as soon as she saw Nico get ahold of the criminal. Damn, that dog was awesome. She shouldn't have lingered; she should have left as soon as Adam had it under control. But she didn't. No, instead she had hovered overhead for a couple of minutes watching. Adam and Nico had stayed on the roof as the other officers led the suspect back down the stairs. And then, she just couldn't help herself; she floated down and talked to them. Then she made a staggering mistake when she couldn't keep her mouth shut. Now this man, Adam Walker, knew her true identity. What worried her most, was that this discovery could bring danger and difficulty to Adam's life. That was the last thing she wanted for anyone.

 _Better get this over with_ , Kara thought to herself as she reached around to the small of her back, under her cape. She pulled a cell phone out of small pouch sewn to her uniform and tapped on the screen. She held the phone to her ear and waited for a moment. "Alex… what are you up to… that's good… Me? Oh, well, you know. Hero stuff… So, you remember how you told me to stay away from that cop?… Yeah, I did the exact opposite..."

* * *

 **Oh man, Adam is gonna have to deal with Alex in the next one...**

 **All right, those last two chapters were almost 10,000 words, so kudos for making it through all that ;-)**

 **I hope you enjoyed it and as always, thanks for reading. I would welcome any feedback, both good and bad, or if you have any questions in general. Take care!**


	7. Prelude

**Wow, that was quite the break... Alas, I have not forgotten about this. I hope you all enjoy.**

* * *

The glow from the large box on the table illuminates the dark room in a soft green light. A mess of wires and electrical equipment was strewn across the table in the middle of the room. The box was the size of a cooler, and had a large keypad on the front of it. Wires ran from a small screen and keypad into the center of the device. The sides of the box were open, showing the large, red blocks of Semtex inside; about 40 pounds. Glowing green rods were strapped to outside of the explosive cube in the middle of the container and wires ran all through the interior. General Lane looked the device over with one arm crossed, and the other covering his mouth. A much younger man in a lab coat was nervously standing next to the general waiting for some feedback.

"What's the blast radius?" The general finally asked.

"It'll destroy the parking garage that you gave me specs for," the scientist stammered.

"And the enhancement?"

"The synthetic alien element is positioned on the bulk explosives so it will be dispersed off of the detonation as fragmentation. Information that you gave me from the data file proved invaluable in recreating it. The Kryptonian should be incapacitated or mortally wounded if it is close to the device," the scientist readjusted his glasses.

"Hmm. We'll see," The general shifted his weight and gave a wave, "that'll be all." The scientist took a step back and turned on his heels, stopping to look at the other figure sitting in the corner. Jonas sat silently and glowered at the scientist. The young man dipped his head and scurried out of the room.

"What do you think, Joe?" Lane asked still looking at the bomb. "Think it'll do the trick?"

"If your orders are to use this device, that's what I'll do." Jonas deflected.

"Cut the shit, do you think it'll work?" The general asked pointedly. Lane wanted Jonas to have buy-in with the plan, not just blindly follow his lead.

"That much bang is sure to drop the parking garage, it's just a matter of whether or not the green stuff is going to work," Jonas said.

"It was synthesized using the specs you gave me from the DEO. Kryptonian physiology can't withstand the radiation that this substance produces."

"According to the file, it's deadly to her." Jonas said. "This device should neutralize her enough to kill or capture."

The general nodded, "Yes, it will work." He turned to face Jonas, "I'm going to have you run point on this operation."

"Sir-"

"I don't want to hear it," Lane snapped back quickly. "Listen, I wouldn't trust this to anyone else. You know this is the right thing to do, and few have lost what you have to these aliens." Jonas didn't argue, but just nodded to the general. "Good, the team I've brought in will take their directions from you, but let them do the dirty work. That's what I am paying them for."

"Yes sir. I'll get it done," Jonas said.

"Good."

The general turned around and walked over to the other corner of the room and took a seat. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone, pushing buttons on the screen to dial up a call. "Come down to my office, I'm ready for you," he said, holding the phone to his ear. There was no verbal response on the other end and he hung up the call. Jonas stood from his chair and walked over to look closer at the bomb. The general shifted in his seat and set his cell phone in his lap. His plan was in motion, and the general was busy trying to anticipate different scenarios and outcomes. He was fairly confident that the alien would show when the shooting started. The last piece he had been waiting for was the bomb; a means of effectively eliminating or disabling the alien.

He had brought in contractors for this mission. Men who had worked with several of the national intelligence agencies, but never officially, of course. They would be the boots on the ground for this endeavour and they are completely untraceable in any databases. Absolute professionals, these men will not be taken alive and discretion is a steadfast rule. Lane's time spent in the intelligence community provided him with many contacts and resources that can be used in a clandestine manner. This entire endeavor was completely off the books. Besides, the public would never endorse or condone half of the things the government does to keep this country safe. Somewhere, right now, men and women are doing the unthinkable in an aim to keep threats from reaching our shores. Doing things that the normal populace are too afraid, too unskilled, or too civilized to do for themselves. Those who consider themselves enlightened would be appalled at the violence that is dispensed on their behalf, but then immediately bleat for protection when faced with danger. People want the safety and security to go about their lives, worrying about the stock market, arguing online about whether or not to vaccinate their kids, or rating the newest flavor at Starbucks. They are happy to remain ignorant of the ugliness that is required to achieve that safety and security.

Lane knew this, and he knew that these aliens were a threat to this country. To the world. He was willing to do what is necessary to keep the people of this country, of this planet, safe. These aliens were threats to the very existence of human beings, and they could decide to turn on the people of this planet at any time. A knock at the door shook the general from his thoughts. "Come in," he said.

A man slid into the room through the doorway, dressed in dark clothing with no insignias. He was of muscular build, and had black, stringy hair slicked backwards that ran down to the collar on his shirt. He was known as 'the Romanian' in the intelligence circles, and no one knew his real name. He stopped and looked over at Jonas, who had turned around to face him, and the device on the table and then back at the general.

"Your target is the alien known as Supergirl, and you're going to use that device," Lane said, gesturing towards the bomb and Jonas. "He will run point, you'll take your orders from him."

The Romanian said nothing for a moment, and then reached into his pocket, pulling out a package of cigarettes and tapped it against his hand. "No problem," he said while propping a cigarette between his lips.

* * *

Alex sat in her car on the quiet suburban block. She leaned low in her seat and fidgeted with a pair of binoculars propped up in the cup holder. The car's engine was off, so as not to attract attention to her vehicle. Nothing was worse than trying to watch somebody and a nosey neighbor calling in your vehicle to the police as being suspicious because it was idling. However, in this case she was watching the police, and she would have a lot of explaining to do if they came out and caught her surveilling one of their own.

She was still fuming over Kara's lack of control and carelessness. She had given her a long and serious speech about the consequences of her actions and ramifications that her secret could mean for somebody. Especially somebody that neither of them knew hardly anything about. Why did she have to involve this man? This police officer, Adam Walker, lived in a house down the block. He was standing in his garage working out while a brown dog laid in the corner of the garage.

Nico.

The dog that Kara had been so enamored with. Kara had slipped up and it didn't take him long to figure who she was. Alex had told Kara that she was going to check him out, and Kara protested. Kara always believed in the best of people and she kept saying that she got a good vibe from this man and didn't think he would be a threat. But Alex hadn't budged and told Kara that she would do a full workup on him and interview him face to face. She warned Kara that there might even be some threatening. While Kara always saw the best in people, Alex was naturally suspicious of anybody new.

She had been watching his house all morning and Adam had been all over the place. Washing his SUV, cutting the grass, giving the dog a bath, and now working out. It wasn't even lunchtime yet and Adam swung a large sledge hammer against a tractor tire over and over. She hadn't met him face to face yet, but Alex could see that he was preoccupied. He would stop for minutes at a time and stare up at the sky. Of course she had a pretty good idea of who he was looking for. She grabbed the binoculars and looked through them again, Adam was now sitting on the tractor tire breathing heavily. Now was as good a time as any.

 _Let's get this over with_ , Alex thought. She grabbed her coat, kicked open the sedan's door and stepped out into the midmorning sun. She walked to the other side of the street, sliding the coat onto her shoulders and began striding towards Adam's house. She walked to the front of the house and started walking up the driveway. Nico's ears perked up as he swung his head around to look at Alex walking towards the garage. Adam noticed his dog keyed into something behind him and turned to see Alex approaching them. Alex walked up to the edge of the garage and waited. Neither of them spoke.

"Can I help you?" Adam broke the silence, wiping sweat from his brow

"Are you Adam Walker?" Alex asked.

"All due respect, who's asking?" Adam bent over and picked up a towel from a chair, careful to not expose the handle of the handgun that was wrapped in the terry cloth.

Alex flipped open a wallet with a badge and government credentials, "FBI."

Adam grinned slightly, "The Federal Bureau of Investigation, huh?" He moved over towards Nico. "You see, I know most all the agents out of the National City field office, but I guess I've never met you Agent...?"

Alex kept a straight face, "Stevens. Alex Stevens and I'm from D.C. I need to ask you a few questions about someone who has contacted you."

"Not to be paranoid, but can I see your credentials again?" Adam stepped forward, holding his towel, that seemed to have a bit of extra weight in it.

"Of course, and you won't need your towel gun," Alex held open the wallet and extended her arm. She had FBI credentials made with a cover name before she left the DEO office. She knew she couldn't have the same last name as Kara.

Adam leaned forward and examined the identification. "Well, you can never be too careful. Right, Agent Stevens?"

"I supposed not Officer Walker."

Satisfied for the moment, Adam turned and stepped back over to the tractor tire and set the towel with his gun in it back on the chair. "Pretty sure I know what you are here about." He sat back on the tire and picked up a water bottle and unscrewed the top. "Didn't take long for you guys to come talk to me."

"You've recently had contact with someone of great importance, haven't you?"

"You obviously know that I have," Adam said and took a swig of water. He stated it matter of fact way, not confrontational.

"You also have become aware of some very sensitive information-"

Adam raised up his hand, "I'll save you some time and effort, Agent. Whatever I may or may not know isn't for me to tell. I'm certainly not going to tell the FBI. If you have questions, you should ask her yourself."

"We have more information than you do," Alex snapped back. "Our main goal is to protect Miss Danvers."

"Is it?" Adam recognized the fact that she knew Kara's name.

"You are now a security risk for her and we have questions about you," Alex continued. "I'm here to evaluate you."

"I see."

"Yes, and there could be consequences if you are deemed to be unreliable." Alex was trying to assess his responses, which to this point, were almost exactly what she wanted to hear. However, she couldn't help but put him on the defensive.

"Well, we wouldn't want that," Adam said to the not-so-thinly veiled threat. "You guys going to stick me in a dark hole somewhere and hope my department doesn't notice?"

"Not the FBI. But, there are other agencies out there that you've probably never heard of. They take special interest in the protection of Supergirl."

"I am not a threat to her." Adam said sincerely.

"I hope not," Alex said.

Adam stared for a moment and shifted his weight. "Would you like to come in and sit down," Adam finally said gesturing towards the door.

"Sure."

"Great." Adam said while picking up his towel and walked to the door and opened it. "Come on," he said to Nico, who jumped up and ran inside in front of them. Alex stepped by Adam into the air conditioned house and waited. Adam stepped in behind her and walked towards the kitchen. "Can I get you something to drink Agent Stevens? Coffee? Water?"

"Coffee, would be great, thanks," Alex said as she moved towards the kitchen table and stood behind a chair. She looked around the dining room and into the living room and quickly noticed a small end table with some framed photos on it. A simple wedding photo was centered in the table, and Alex could see Adam and a beautiful brunette smiling in the photo; her emerald green eyes were striking. There were other assorted photos of the couple on the table, a tribute to a happy life. Alex recognized the woman in the photos from the background she had done on Adam. Elizabeth, the wife that Adam lost to cancer about eighteen months ago. Alex glanced back over to Adam, who had his back to her while he fiddled with the hissing and bubbling Keurig on the counter. The house was clean and well decorated, which made the sheets and pillow on the couch out of place. They appeared to have been slept on recently and there was a dog bed near the coffee table. Alex noticed a photo album and a bottle of vodka on the table near the pillow on the couch. The sorrow in the room was evident. Her attention was pulled to her left hand as a wet nose nudged it and she looked down to see Nico wagging his tail at her.

"Nico, leave her be," Adam said from the kitchen. "Sorry about that."

"It's no problem," Alex replied and scratched the dog on the head. "It's my understanding that he is one of the main reasons that I am here."

"Yeah, she has taken quite a liking to him," Adam nodded. "Cream and sugar?"

"No thanks."

Adam walked back to the dining room and handed her the coffee cup, "here you go."

"Thanks," Alex replied as Adam sat at the table. She remained standing, leaning on one of the dining room chairs and took a sip. "Look, I won't insult your intelligence and act like I didn't do my homework before coming to talk to you."

"I would expect nothing less."

"I know about your position at the NCPD and your service records, which are stellar. You seem like a good cop, but I have to make a recommendation to my superiors as to your reliability regarding sensitive information. From this point forward, you are in possession of information that could pose a risk to yourself as well as her. Not to mention those that she cares about." Alex paused for a moment, reading Adam's expression. He had a look of regret on his face and was staring at his coffee cup. "I also know about your recent personal loss."

Adam looked back up at Alex, his eyes and features hardening. Alex knew from her research that the loss of his wife had affected him very much.

"I don't pretend to know what you have gone through, nor will I show you the disrespect of telling you that I understand how you feel," Alex continued. "However, I do believe that you wouldn't want anyone to experience the loss that you have. Ms. Danvers keeps us safe and uses her abilities to help those who are in trouble. This creates enemies; enemies that would do harm to her or those that she cares for." Adam's expression softened as Alex said this. "The least we can do is allow her a secure identity that provides her with some normality and-"

"Her secret is safe," Adam interjected while holding his hand up. "I will not speak of what I know to anyone. I know she didn't intend for me to find out, and I can respect the position she is in. I will sign whatever you need me to sign in regards to nondisclosure agreements or classified information notices. I am not interested in discussing her secret with anyone.

"Officer Walker, I don't want your life to become any more complicated."

"I know. But it would seem we might be past that." Adam glancing away and sipping from his coffee cup. "And please, call me Adam."

"Ok Adam, and you might be right," Alex said, examining the man. She believed him. Her gut told her that he was trustworthy and that he was genuine in his desire to protect the information that he now had. She had approached this morning from an adversarial point of view, that Adam was a threat. She now had twinges of regret for the position this man was in. He didn't ask for any of this, and it was clear that he had enough pain and sorrow in his life. He was obviously a broken soul, who had lost something that was the light in his world. He still wore his wedding band and clearly continued to struggle with the day to day pain. She can imagine the circumstances that led to him signing up for a dating website; time and loneliness take their toll on a person. Not all that dissimilar from the motivation for Kara signing up to the same website. Obviously, the website's algorithms thought they were compatible enough to match them, and Kara did say the dinner was going well before it was interrupted by a plane crash. Adam was staring out into the living room, towards the couch. Alex saw him looking at the crumpled bed sheets and blankets and asked, "You have company?"

"No, no. That's where I sleep, I wasn't expecting visitors, so I didn't get a chance to clean up." Adam said.

Alex looked back at Adam with a quizzical look on her face, and then glanced down the hallway towards the bedrooms.

"Still doesn't feel right, you know." Adam said while still looking out into the living room. "Don't really like spending time in the bedroom since my wife passed."

"I see. I am sorry for your loss." Alex said and Adam nodded to her, taking another sip of coffee. "And I appreciate your candidness in this matter of Ms. Danvers."

"Of course, I understand that you need to check me out. It's not a problem." The buzzing and tones emanating from Adam's cell phone filled the room. "Excuse me," Adam said while getting up and walking to the counter where his phone lay. As he was reading the message, Alex's phone buzzed in her pocket and she reached in and pulled it out to read the alert.

"Looks like you're needed downtown," Alex said reading through the alert on her phone.

"Yeah, we're being called out for multiple gunman who have attacked the Lord Commercial Tower," Adam said typing into his phone.

"Of course, be safe and I'll leave you my card should anything come up regarding what we talked about," Alex said, while setting the coffee cup and business card onto the table. "Thank you for the coffee, I'll let myself out so you can get ready."

"Thank you Agent Stevens, and I doubt you'll be hearing from me. The less involved in any of this I am, the better."

Alex nodded and stepped back over to the door into the garage and swung it open and stepped out of the house. She hadn't realized it until then, but she felt more at ease with the situation and nodded to herself as she strode out of the garage and back down the street to her car. This could've been a lot worse, but this Adam Walker seemed sincere in his desire to keep Kara's secret and not be the one who brings danger to her life. Alex reached her vehicle, unlocked the doors, and slid back into the driver's seat. The engine revved back alive as she turned the key in the ignition. Alex could see Adam back out front of his house with Nico, throwing a couple bags into his SUV parked in the driveway. She watched as he opened the rear door on the SUV and Nico leapt inside. The buzzing of an incoming call on her phone jarred her as she reached into her pocket and pulled it out to look at the screen. Blocked number.

"Hello," Alex answered.

"It's Vazquez," the voice on the other end answered.

"Hey Vazquez," Alex said to the fellow DEO agent.

"Where are you?"

"Out doing some follow up on something, what's up?" Alex responded. She looked back up and saw Adam's SUV backing out of the driveway onto the street and start driving away from her.

"I think we've got a problem."

* * *

 **Hope you all are doing well. Feel free to review or provide feedback.**


	8. A Plan in Motion

"Two more blocks, and you'll see the entrance with the guard shack. I have eyes on it now," Jonas' voice cracked over the radio. "Make sure you get to the bottommost level of the parking garage to isolate the alien as much as possible."

"Copy," was all that the Romanian would reply into his headset. The blue van bounced along the street down the block, as shadows from the late afternoon sun whipped across the windshield. He sat in the front passenger seat, watching a moving map on his phone, while four other men rode in silence. All were wearing assault gear and had rifles in their laps. There was a precious gem depository in the basement of this commercial center that the team would appear to be assaulting to draw the Kryptonian out. Of course, they had no intention of stealing any diamonds, only neutralizing a powerful alien. "You two," the Romanian turned to two of the men sitting in the back of the van. "You two cover left side of garage, you other two cover right. I set and arm device, we do not leave until she shows. Clear?" the Romanian's heavily accented voice was direct. "Once we go, split, dump gear, and blend with crowd. We meet back at rally. Questions?" The men said nothing, only nodded. "Good," he said and turned back to face forward.

"ETA?" Jonas' voice came over the radio.

"Twenty seconds," the Romanian replied into his headset.

"I see you approaching, you're clear. Green light."

The van slowed and turned off the street into the driveway for the garage, slowing and stopping next to the guardshack. A man with a young face and grey uniform stepped out of the small shack and motioned for the driver to roll the window down. The tinted window began to lower.

"Can I help you?" the young guard asked.

"Yes," the Romanian's voice replied and a shot snapped from inside the van. A pink and red mist exploded from the back of the guard's head and his whole body tensed and then fell sideways to the ground. The claret liquid instantly pooled around his crumpled body. The Romanian tossed a round, baseball sized object into the shack and motioned the driver. "Go," he said. As the van heaved forward and crashed through the barricade arm, the guard shack exploded with a flash of fire as a grenade detonated. Several pedestrians on the street, who were frozen by the sound of the gunshot, now fled in terror running back up the block.

Echos from squealing tires reverberated through the parking garage as the van sped down the corridors, then turned onto a ramp leading to the next lower level. As they reached the ramp leading to the lowest parking level, emergency strobes began flashing, accompanied with a deafening tone, indicating someone had tripped the alarm.

"Keep going," the Romanian said to the man driving. "Take us to back corner of garage. Stairwell is very close for our exit." The van slowed as it reached the final level of the parking garage. The density of cars parked on this level was substantially less than other levels, leaving large open areas that could be easily covered as sectors of fire. The van stopped in a corner of the parking level.

"9-1-1 calls are in, police are responding to a jewel heist," one of the other men said while glancing at a laptop.

"Good, they will set up perimeter. Alien is our worry," the Romanian said and flung his door open. The other men piled out of the vehicle and began moving to their respective areas. "Police are coming," the Romanian transmitted into his radio.

"Copy, I'll let you know when I see any sign of her," Jonas replied.

The men began setting up for a fight, and then they waited.

Nico barked excitedly from inside Adam's SUV as Mark approached. Adam was standing at the rear liftgate and his gear compartment was open; he heaved an assault vest up over his head and slid it onto his shoulders.

"You ready? We're going to move," Mark questioned while checking the sight on his rifle.

"Yep," Adam said while grabbing his helmet. "Any updates?"

"Shots fired, and at least one person is down. Also, they have explosives of some kind."

"Jesus, sounds like some serious jewel thieves."

"Yep, such an old-fashioned notion: just sticking up a jewel store. Now they have to bring assault weapons and explosives to the party." Mark quipped sarcastically.

"So inconsiderate," Adam said while shutting the back of his vehicle and walking to the passenger doors.

"Right?" Mark said with a grin.

Adam opened the rear passenger door and Nico sprung out. "Come on," Adam said and clipped a short leash to his collar as Nico instinctively moved into position on Adam's left side.

"Maybe our savior in a red skirt will come and bail us out again. Swoop in and save the day. Whaddya think?" Mark said as they hurried over to the entrance of the parking garage where other RRS members were staging.

Adam didn't respond to Mark, instead calling to the team leader, "we're ready."

"Alright, let's move. Everyone stay sharp," the team leader barked and turned briskly walked to the ramp leading down into the parking garage. The team spread out as they swiftly moved through the top levels of the parking structure. Adam walked to the middle of the group, which put him in the middle of the parking garage to allow quick movement to either the right or left side with Nico, should the team have contact. The smell of burnt gunpowder, sour and acrid, hit Adam in the face as he approached the ramp of the bottommost parking level. Adam could feel the tension in his body increase as he looked up and saw that several large lights and security cameras had been shot out. The team slowed it's pace, also sensing that they must be getting close. Adam consciously controlled his breathing, to ease the trembling he could feel in his hands which held his rifle at a low-ready. Even though the air was cool and moving in the parking structure, Adam could feel the heat building under his helmet and sweat started rolling down his face.

As the team leader reached the bottom of the ramp, the background drone of electrical equipment and ventilation motors was shattered by rifle fire. Small explosions in the cement landed all around the team, as bullets slammed into the ground and walls. Everyone was shouting and the darkened parking level came alive with muzzle flashes. The concussions of rifle fire in the closed space of a parking structure blurred Adam's vision as he and Mark ran to the right. The other several RRS members moved to the left side of the open expanse. Mark and Adam stopped behind a parked sedan and Mark crouched to the hood and fired a volley of rifle shots back at their attackers. Adam checked on Nico, who was barking excitedly, but still dutifully at his side. He slid down to the trunk area of the vehicle and fired at least ten to fifteen rounds from his rifle towards the opposite end of the parking structure where he could see muzzle flashes. The parking garage was in chaos.

"We should move!" Mark screamed over the sounds of the conflict. The snaps of bullets flying around them was assaulting all of his senses.

"Yeah, cement pillar to the right!" Adam screamed back. Gunsmoke was beginning to fill the parking garage and it was darker as errant bullets ricocheted through the lights on the ceiling.

"You go first, I'll cover," Mark ordered. He fired his rifle until the magazine was empty, mechanically dropping the empty one out of the gun, and inserting a fresh one.

Adam nodded and turned to prepare to run. "Moving!" He screamed as he launched into a sprint across the open area. He could hear Mark's cadence of fire increase as he sent bullets down the parking garage to cover him. Nico ran alongside Adam, easily able to keep up with him. Adam reached the large cement pillar and slid behind it, unclipping Nico's leash from his belt and giving him the command to down and stay. The large cement pillar was about seven feet wide and would make a good fighting position. The dog eagerly watched Adam as he shouldered his rifle and leaned out from the pillar and fired more rounds towards the criminals. "Got you covered!" he screamed at Mark.

Mark ducked down and yelled back to Adam, "Moving!" The contractors had seen the movement that the two were trying to make, and they fired at Mark as he ran. Sparks flew all around as he sprinted for the pillar. The feeling of a baseball bat striking him in chest almost knocked him off his feet. He couldn't breath, and burning in his chest was almost unbearable. He kept running as fast as he could, but another impact to his left leg and his weight drug him to the ground. He was so confused as to why he couldn't stay standing anymore as he fell forward and reached out to break his fall. He slid across the ground and stopped within a couple feet of the cement pillar.

Adam turned and looked when he heard a grunt behind him and saw Mark on the ground. Mark instinctively reached out and Adam grabbed his hand and started dragging him behind the pillar. Mark screamed in agony as more bullets struck him in the abdomen, but Adam kept dragging him to safety. Adam rolled him onto his back and was amazed to see that blood was starting to soak his entire uniform.

"No, no, no," was all he could say. "Where you hit, buddy?" Adam asked starting to reach for his first aid kit.

"Oh man, everywhere, I think," Mark sputtered. "They tore me up pretty good."

Adam reached down to Mark's vest and pulled off the two tourniquets that were strapped to the shoulder straps and shoved them in Mark's hands. "Get these on your legs. Can you manage?" He ordered.

"Yeah, I can handle that. Put some rounds on those assholes, will ya," Mark was breathing heavily. Adam nodded and lifted his rifle, leaning out from behind the pillar and emptied the magazine. Mark was fumbling with the black straps of the tourniquets, he was losing dexterity quickly. "Goddamnit," he huffed.

Adam looked back at Mark and could see he was struggling. He dropped the empty magazine in his rifle and loaded a fresh one. "Here… here, let me get it," he said to Mark grabbing one of the tourniquets.

"Sorry man… hands aren't working so good," Mark apologized.

"Don't even sweat it brother, I got you," Adam said and quickly applied the straps to both of Mark's legs.

"I'm sorry, man," Mark said.

"Don't worry about it," Adam said tightening the straps.

"No, to hell with that… I'm better than that… I let you down..."

"It's alright, it's alright," Adan dismissed that. "Where else you hit?"

"I can't breath man… and my gut is... on fire," Mark was struggling to get words out and Adam could see the tinge of blood on the corner of his mouth. Adam undid the straps to Mark's vest and clamshelled the front part of the vest over his head. He could immediately see a large red stain just below his right collar bone, towards his sternum. Adam wiggled a finger into the hole in the combat shirt and tore an opening so he could see. He quickly fumbled with a chest seal out of his aid kit and ripped open the packaging. He found the entry wound and wiped the blood away before sticking the center of the chest seal over it.

"How we doing, man?" Adam asked while checking his back to find an exit wound. Fire continued from where the contractors were, landing on the pillar that Mark and Adam were behind, and the other half of the team was shooting from the left side of the parking garage.

"You gotta... get out here," every word was becoming misery for Mark.

"Fuck off, I'm getting you out of here," Adam said incredulously, still working on Mark's wounds.

"There's no way… no way you can get us… both out… don't be stupid," Mark's face was ashen and tears rolled out of his eyes back towards his ears as he laid on the ground.

"Come on, buddy. Don't talk like that," Adam was checking the wound in his abdomen.

"I hope you find peace," Mark said quietly.

"What do you mean, homie?" Adam replied still focusing on his abdomen.

"You've been so tortured… for a year and half… you don't deserve…" Mark trailed off.

Realizing that Mark wasn't talking right, Adam moved back to his head, "How are you feeling, what else hurts?"

"I'm good… it doesn't hurt… it doesn't hurt anymore…" Mark's breathing was becoming more labored.

"Hey, knock that shit off, stay with me," Adam ordered.

"I'll catch you… on the flip side… take care of him…" Mark's eyes were becoming vacant, but they looked into the distance. He spoke past Adam, "he needs looking after…"

Adam turned and saw Kara standing next to the pillar looking at them, a pained look on her face. Bullets were bouncing off the symbol on her chest and falling at her feet as she stood there.

Mark took a deep painful breath in, "Look after… eachother…" He exhaled sharply and became still. His pupils widened as the life slipped from his eyes.

"Mark? Mark!?" Adam shook his friend. He could feel the death in his fingertips as he tried to check for a pulse on Mark's neck. "Don't go, brother. Please." Adam's head dipped as the realization set it. Nico whimpered and shifted on the ground as he sensed the grief of his master.

"Adam, I'm sorry," Kara breathed.

Adam slowly turned his head and looked back at Kara, her expression now morphed to anger. A cerulean glow enveloped her eyes as she turned her head, looking back at the van the contractors had been hiding behind. Raw energy erupted in two beams and cut through the engine compartment of the van, igniting a small fire. Adam reached down and gently slid Mark's eyes closed.

* * *

Kara closed her eyes to cease the flow of energy, the familiar burning and tingling subsiding from around her orbits. She blinked her vision back to normal and looked back over at Adam, hovering over his friend. Sadness and regret swept over her. All of the abilities of a goddess, and she still wasn't fast enough. However, the job wasn't done yet. She glanced back at the van and squinted as her vision distorted and the walls of the vehicle became translucent. The men had all fled and she could see an emergency exit door swinging open in the corner of the garage. Kara took a half step forward but froze when she saw cooler-shaped object in the back of the van. She could clearly see the electronics and timer counting down on top of multiple blocks of a clay-like substance.

Bomb.

It was a bomb and there was a substantial amount of explosives. Her breath caught in her chest when she saw the green rods strapped to the outside of the explosives. _That couldn't be what I think it is_ , she thought to herself. The realization hit her like a punch to the stomach. _Was this whole thing a ruse to bring me out?_ Mark laid dead, not five feet away because they were after her. She had to do something.

"Bomb," was all that Kara said out loud.

"What?" Adam said, turning his attention away from Mark and back to her.

"There is a bomb in back of the van. It'll destroy the building," Kara said still looking at the van.

Adam processed what she said, "Ok, let me take a look at-"

"No, I'm going to get it out of here. Far away from here," Kara said. "The bad guys ran up the emergency stairwell."

"Hold on-"

"It was meant for me," Kara turned and looked down at Mark's body and then at Adam. "I'm so sorry, Adam."

"Kar-"

Kara leapt forward in a blur and landed right next to the van.

"Wait!" Adam yelled after her.

Kara jammed her hands through the skin of the van and tore a large hole to the interior. Sickness slapped her in the face, as her proximity to the synthetic kryptonite caused nausea to rack her body. She reached out to grab the handles on the box and recoiled with a hiss as her hands burned. Kara felt fear creeping into her chest as she looked at the blisters that were already forming on her palms. She looked over her shoulder back at the pillar and could see Adam running towards her from across the parking garage, Nico at his side. Kara took a deep breath and reached in and grabbed the box, suppressing the instant pain shooting through her body. She looked straight up above her and squinted her eyes as the roof and floors of the parking garage became transparent; checking and making sure her path was clear. She crouched and rocketed upward through the ceiling and floors of the parking garage until she burst into daylight.

Kara could feel the warmth of the sun on her face and an accompanying surge in power from the solar radiation. She struggled to ascend but focused every ounce of concentration and energy on the climb and speed. Her mind was screaming at her to stop, her muscles felt like they might explode. The tightness in her chest was becoming unbearable, and the burning in her hands had now spread to her entire body. She can feel the skin on her fingers and arms cracking from the radiation. She wasn't sure she could keep flying much longer. Kara glanced back down at the city below.

 _Not high enough. I have to keep going!_ She ordered to herself. A surge of determination continued her climb through a cloud layer as she glanced back down to the digital counter on the box.

 _6, 5, 4…_

She arched her back and began arcing towards the coast. She knew it would be over soon, if she could just get it a little farther away. The fear she had stifled came rushing back into her mind, numbing the constant and blazing pain.

The searing heat and blinding light surrounded her whole body before the sudden darkness.

* * *

 **Hope you all are well. As always, feel free to review and launch some feedback at me.**


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